Where There's Smoke
by la femme de l'abime
Summary: Sequel to Good Morning Sunshine! Stephanie and Greg plan to move past the events of the past year, but not without their obstacles! GregOC. Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Here it is, the long awaited sequel to Good Morning Sunshine and A Christmas of Firsts. It is not necessarily manditory to read either before reading this, but it may clear up a few things. Thank you so much for all the reviews on GMS, I love you all to death! Sorry it took so long to get this sequel up and running but I was just hired to write a column for a local newspaper and I'm going through a fairly nasty breakup (wow, that should prove to provide an interesting column.). Anyways, here's the first chapter, please review, I'd love to hear what you think! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: None of it's mine, I just like to pretend.

Ch. 1

Greg threw his jacket into his locker and sat down on the bench to untie his shoes and replace his dress shoes for a much more comfortable pair of chucks. Loosening his tie he sighed deeply. He resented going to court, even when it did go well. This time round he had been called to testify on a case from over a year ago. It was the George Milston case. Despite the well known fact that the case would be a slam dunk, there was a lot of pressure on the evidence to pull through. Everyone had had a case that was solid on paper but fell apart in court. This one held more pressure than any other the team had tackled before. Putting Milston behind bars was something the lab had been trying to do for over forty years, before Catherine, before Grissom, before Eckley. And it was him who'd finally done it. It was unbelievable how long ago it felt since Stephanie had been attacked, since he cracked what was likely to be the biggest case of his career. The others had teased him that he'd peaked, that it was only down hill from here. Despite all that, he noticed the level of respect he'd gained among his colleges. Since last year he'd made his way to Level Two, and was well on his way to becoming a Level Three.

Pulling on an old and beaten pair of chucks out of the bottom of his locker a small black box caught his eye. The box. The box that had been on Greg's mind ever since his mother had handed it to him at the airport before boarding her plane. He picked the box up and begun turning it over in his hand. Looking over his shoulder he carefully cracked open the box. Inside was a gorgeous vintage engagement ring. A plain silver band on the top of which sat a delicately cut, sizable diamond. The ring was made by a jewler in Norway which it was rumored that Tiffany's had taken their classic design from. It was the ring his grandfather had given his grandmother before they'd left Norway.

"So how you gonna do it Greggo?" A voice startled him from behind. Greg jumped, closing the box as he hid it behind his back. Turning to see Nick standing in the doorway, chuckling to himself. "The gigs up man, we all know what you've got planned tonight." A look of panic swept over Greg's face. Wordlessly Nick read his mind, "chill Greg, everyone but her."

Greg exhaled deeply, relieved that he hadn't been found out. Checking the room once more to ensure that no one was there, he shared his plan with Nick. "Well, she really likes that 'Old Hollywood' glitz and glamour, you know? I remembered her talking about this actor back in the twenties or something who put the ring in a glass of champagne, so that when she held it up to the light she would see the ring. So we're going to the restaurant where we had our first date. …God, I can't believe I'm finally doing this…" Pausing for a moment Greg continued pacing the room, juggling the box in his hands. "What's she gonna say?" He pondered.

Nick looked at his distressed friend and laughed, "what do you think she's gonna say, genius? You know, for a smart guy you're really not that bright." Nick grabbed the box from Greg, cracking it open to observe the ring inside. The look on Greg's face was priceless. "Man, she's gonna say yes."

Greg grinned, "you think so?"

"Yah," Nick reassured him, "I know so."

* * *

Stephanie sat on the bed, watching Greg nervously tie and re-tie his tie. He undid the knot with an exasperated sigh. She got up off the bed and came up behind him, and took the tie out of his hands. "Here," she said, "let me," and expertly tied it for him. As she slipped her arms from around his neck he caught a whiff of her perfume. Smiling, he breathed in her sent. "Tell me again, where are we going tonight?"

"Nice try Stephi," he watched in the mirror as she cringed at the use of her dreaded nick-name, "I never told you where we were going. It's supposed to be a surprise."

"Don't I get a hint?" She asked, fishing for some clue as to where they were going tonight.

* * *

As soon as they pulled up to the valet Stephanie knew where they were. It was the restaurant where they had had their first date. They had revisited the restaurant a few times since that night. While she knew where she was, she still didn't know why they were there. She assumed that it could be because of Greg's day in court. Today had marked the official close of the Milston case. Everyone had been more than relieved that this chapter in their life had come to a close.

As they entered the restaurant Stephanie clasped Greg's hand as a flood of memories washed over her. A cheery waitress led the pair to a table in the middle of the room. The candles were lit and the band was beginning to play. Stephanie didn't notice, but Greg did, that scattered near-by throughout the restaurant were Catherine, Warrick, Nick, Sara, Grissom, Archie, David, Doc. Robbins and even Hodges. Greg shot Nick a questioning look. This had defiantly not been part of the plan. Nick winked back at him and shrugged his shoulders before ducking back behind his menu.

Once they had been given their menus Greg excused himself to 'go to the washroom'. Little did Stephanie know he was handing the ring off to the waitress. Greg ran over the plan with the young girl breathlessly. He was amazed at how calm she seemed. From the waitress' booth near the kitchen he made a quick detour to the bathroom, as to make his story plausible.

After Greg had left the table Stephanie pulled a compact out of her purse, as she slicked her lips with a layer of lipstick she could have sworn she'd seen-nah, she reassured herself, it couldn't be. Just as she returned her compact to her purse, Greg sat back down at the table. Before she had a chance to say anything the waitress approached their table carrying a tray.

"A glass of Cristal, for the lady." She said elegantly, placing a flute of champagne on the table. "And one for the gentleman."

"I'm sorry," Stephanie replied, confusedly, "we didn't order any champagne." Despite Stephanie's efforts the waitress persisted and left to tend to another table. "Greg?" Stephanie questioned him, "you wouldn't happen to know anything about this would you?" After over a year of living with Greg she had become accustomed to his little games. While the team at the lab thought that it had been bad trying to get test results out of him, they'd never tried it 24/7.

Greg simply smiled and lifted his flute in a toast. "To us," he said as a mischievous grin spread across his face. Stephanie cocked her head to the side, lifting her glass to meet Greg's. Just as she raised it a glimmer of light caught her eye. She brought the flute of champagne closer for further inspection.

"You didn't-" she started, as an uncontrollable smile began to form on her crimson lips.

Before she could finish Greg was out of his seat and knelt in front of her on bended knee. The only sound to escape her lips was a tiny gasp. "Stephanie Marie-Thérèse O'Neil, will you marry me?"

"Oh my god, Greg." Was all she could manage to whisper as she threw her arms around him. "Yes!" She squealed.

"Really?" He asked.

Stephanie giggled, "yes, Gregory Hojem Sanders. I will marry you!" Greg's lopsided grin returned once more. Just then applause erupted throughout the restaurant. Stephanie looked up to see Catherine, Warrick, Nick, Sara, Grissom, Archie, David, Doc. Robbins and surprisingly Hodges strategically placed throughout the restaurant, standing up and cheering. Nick let out a loud 'whoop', causing several other patrons to glare at him, not that he, or any other members of the group noticed. "You planned all this?" An ecstatic Stephanie asked Greg.

"I can take credit for everything but them," he said, motioning to the applauding crime lab staff surrounding the restaurant. "That, they did on their own." Greg expertly removed the ring from the champagne flute and slid it onto her finger, pausing only to dry it on a napkin.

Stephanie held her hand up to examine the ring, "Greg, its gorgeous!" she exclaimed.

"It was my grandmother's." He explained, "my mother gave it to me when she came out last year. Apparently you made quite the impression on her."

Before Stephanie could do anything but blush, the pair was enveloped in a huge embrace from everyone who'd been observing up until this point. Nick ruffled Greg's hair affectionately, "see Greggo," he began nonchalantly, "I told you she'd say yes." Stephanie grinned at Greg as the two were pulled apart by the group of rambunctious overseers.

Over the next hour everyone 'ooed' and 'awed' and what they had dubbed as 'The Rock.' Sara and Catherine were already beginning to book dates in which the trio was to be going dress shopping. By the end of the evening they had discussed everything from colour schemes to place settings to honeymoon destinations. Stephanie and Greg hardly spent a single moment alone for the rest of the evening. Eventually the pair collapsed into Greg's car, exhausted. Stephanie leaned across the car and kissed Greg.

"I love you." He whispered softly.

"I love you too," she replied simply. After a moments driving she said, "I guess we have some phone calls to make then, don't we?"

"I hate to tell you this, but your parents already know." Greg said guiltily.

"What? How? Why?" Stephanie asked, confusedly.

"Well, I had to ask your parent's permission, didn't I?" Greg asked innocently.

"Greg, you are amazing! I just know they're going to love you, I can't believe you asked my parents permission first! That's so romantic. Nevertheless, they will still kill me if I don't call them."

"Okay, as soon as we get home, we'll call everyone we know. What do you say?"

"Perfect! Oh, I have to call Jules and Mark!" Stephanie exclaimed sporadically. "And Damian and Lana! They'll be so excited!" The rest of the way home Stephanie and Greg rambled on about whom they had to call, they decided first on parents, then siblings, then friends.

* * *

"Bonjour Mama!" Stephanie called to the base of the speaker phone on the table. She and Greg sat next to each other on the couch.

Greg knew that Stephanie's mother knew about his proposal, so she knew not to give anything away. "Âllo, Stéphanie!" A think French-Canadien accent came through the speaker. "Ça va?"

"Trés bien mama, et tu?" She asked in perfect French. Greg looked at his fiancé in amazement, he knew that her mother was French, but he hadn't realized how fluently she spoke the language.

"Comme ci, comme ça. Comment Gregory est-il?" Her mother asked, nonchalantly.

"Il est très bon! Il est voici. Est papa ici, aussi? Voulez-vous lui parler?"

"Oui, yes, très bien, very good." Stephanie's mother switched over to English, laced with a thick accent.

"Bonjour Madame O'Neil," Greg said in stilted French, in high school he'd switched over to Spanish meaning he hadn't spoken any French since elementary school.

"It's okay Gregory, you may speak English." She laughed.

"I have some good news mama," Stephanie began excitedly.

"Really?" Her mother questioned, Stephanie could detect a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

"Yes, Greg and I are engaged!" Stephanie squealed, several octaves above her average tone.

"Non!" Her mother instinctively switched back to French, "pas possible!" Then she called out, "Lana, oú est ton pere?"

"Mama, Lana's est ici? Est Damian aussi?" Stephanie asked excitedly, forgetting her fiancé's lack of grasp on the French language.

"Oui, vous voici, they are here. Rencontrer, en anglais, Stéphanie."

"Je suis desolé…sorry," she said, more to Greg than her mother. "Get everyone on a phone," Stephanie knew that they always had multiple phones in their house, more than enough for everyone. One by one Damian, Lana and Stephanie's father got on a phone to hear the news. "Guess what everyone," she said, drawing it out as much as possible. "Greg proposed!"

Lana not to be out done by Stephanie, squealed. "You know what this means don't you? Shopping!" She squealed once more.

"I know!" Stephanie hoped up and down on the couch.

"Congratulations!" Came a third voice, "I'm assuming there's a fiancé on the other end of this line somewhere."

"Yes Damian," Stephanie said, "everyone, this is Greg," she made mock introductions. "Greg, this is my mama, Ines, my dad, Patrick, my sister, Lana, and her husband, Damian."

After rounds of introductions and retellings of the evenings events Stephanie hung up the phone, exhausted. "I guess we're calling you're parents next, right?"

"Yep," Greg said as he dialed the number, "and lucky for you, everyone in my family speaks English. Not including Papa Olav, of course, but I think it's a bit late to make a call to Norway.

* * *

By the end of the evening Stephanie and Greg had called everyone they could think of. Knowing that they'd still have to call countless more in the morning. The exhausted pair collapsed into bed, too tired to think. For now all they need was each other, and a few solid hours sleep. The rest could wait until morning. 


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I really had fun w/ this chapter so I hope you all enjoy it. If I can figure out how, I will be including a link to the dress mentioned in this chapter. Anyways, please R&R!

Ch. 2

A few weeks later Stephanie and Greg lay in bed after a long shift of tough cases. As they lay together, wrapped in each others arms, Stephanie's mind wandered once again to the impending wedding they were in the mist of planning. Each wanted a summer wedding. They'd decided to have the ceremony in California, since it was a sort of halfway point for everyone to travel. Plus, holding it in California gave them safe bets on the weather. One thing that ran through Stephanie's mind was the honeymoon.

"Greg," she rubbed his arm to make sure he was awake.

"Mmffppt," he responded.

"Greg, what about the honeymoon?" She asked.

"Well," Greg said sleepily, rubbing his eyes, "I was thinking somewhere hot, involving beaches and bikinis…" he nudged her playfully.

Stephanie giggled at his boyish tendencies, "you are such a guy, you know that?"

"Really? I had no idea." He teased her.

"What about Cuba?" She thought out loud, "Grandmere and Grandpere always said fantastic things about Cuba."

"Cuba sounds good. Beaches," Greg ticked off on his fingers, "hot weather, and most importantly of all…bikinis." He tickled her in the stomach, her utmost ticklish spot. It was his secret weapon. He moved from tickling to softly kissing her neck, she moaned with pleasure. Curling into him, she breathed in his warm sent. Loving the feeling of his warm body against hers, and within a few short moments was fast asleep.

* * *

Stephanie dug madly through her purse, searching for the cell phone that was vibrating at random intervals and interrupting her meeting with Grissom, Eckley and the Sheriff. Seeing the name on the call display screen she excused herself from the meeting. "I'm so sorry, I have to take this."

Quickly closing the door behind her Stephanie hit the 'talk' button, "You have got to stop doing this!" She hissed playfully into the phone.

"But I missed you," a voice whined on the other end of the phone.

"I was in a meeting," she said, trying to remain serious so the others in the next room would think she was taking an actually serious call, as opposed to something as frivolous as this. "I miss you too." She said, giving in to his pleading voice.

"Can you meet me for coffee in an hour?" He asked.

"You called me for a coffee break?" She asked back. "Besides, you know I can't meet you for coffee, I'm going shopping with Catherine and Sara."

"You're blowing me off for those two? But I'm your fiancé."

"Greg, I'm going dress shopping, I'd invite you with me but it'd be bad luck."

"Right, right," he responded automatically, "new shoes on the table. I gotcha."

"Hey, you can't blame genetics. It's an inherited sense of superstition. Listen, I love you but I have to go, Eckley's trying to stare holes into my back through the door. Love you tons."

"Love you more." He replied.

"Yah, probably." She teased as she hung up the phone. Silently laughing to herself at the ridiculous phone calls they had shared over the past month. The down side to having two advancing careers was that the further up they went, the fewer opportunities they had to work together. "Sorry about that," Stephanie's business face returned as she continued her meeting.

* * *

Later that afternoon Stephanie stepped out of the changing room for what felt like the hundredth time. She tried to read the faces of the two women before her, sitting in plush chairs, flipping through a range of bridal magazines. Sara was the first to look up.

"Wow," her mouth fell open, "wow."

"Steph, that's the one," Catherine said in amazement as she stood up, moving to arrange the layers of fabric that made up the dress' large skirt. "Stephanie, this is amazing! He'll love it." Sara nodded in awe.

Stephanie moved to the mirror, swishing the dress as the moved. The pure white form fitting silk corset with a delicate Chantilly lace overlay blended seamlessly into a full skirt. Two bands of silk criss-crossed and draped over her hips and tied in the back, flowing halfway down the cathedral length train. At the centre of the strapless neckline was a delicate lace rose. Catherine scooped the hair off her neck and twisted it up into a loose bun, "See, perfect."

Stephanie spoke for the first time since she'd been rendered speechless after leaving the changing room and seeing herself in the mirror. "This is it," she whispered as she twirled around, revealing the dipping back of the dress. Catherine and Sara ooed and awed as Stephanie wiped a tear from her eyes, "this is it!" She said, this time slightly louder. She twirled once again, but as she twirled she tripped over the hem of the dress and landing in a heap on the floor. "Oops," she giggled, "well, this is defiantly the one if I can fall over and it stays in one piece."

Catherine and Sara laughed. "You're kids aren't going to stand a chance are they?"

Stephanie blushed at Catherine's observation. "Heaven forbid they should be into hockey or," she shuddered, "Ultimate Frisbee."

Sara looked at her quizzically, "Ultimate Frisbee?"

Stephanie sighed as she began to explain, "when I was living on the West Coast, the popular sport there during the spring was Ultimate Frisbee. It's a cross between football and golf using Frisbees. We were playing it in gym class on the day of the school dance and wouldn't you know I got hit in the face. I had a fat lip for a month after the dance and needed two years of braces to correct the damage."

By the end of the story Catherine and Sara were rolling on the floor laughing. "Okay," Stephanie interrupted, "who's going to unzip me so we can go look for your dresses."

A look of shock replaced those of laughter on the pair's faces. "No way are you getting me into a dress," Sara protested, "I came here purely on the grounds of helping you find your dress. Anyways, I do believe there's a bakery down the street that does wedding cakes. I say we skip bridesmaid dresses and go eat cake. Catherine?"

"I could go for some cake," Catherine offered.

"No," Stephanie said firmly, "we're here to get dresses; we only have six months until the wedding. I'll even let you pick out your dresses, how's that?"

* * *

By the end of the afternoon all three women had selected a dress. Stephanie pulled a large binder out of her shoulder bag, as they sat at a table at a coffee shop near the lab. Stephanie flipped through pages in the binder until she came to a page with two columns, 'TO DO' and 'COMPLETE'. She ticked 'First Fitting-Stephanie', 'First Fitting-Catherine' and 'First Fitting-Sara'. Closing the book with a satisfactory sigh Stephanie reached for her coffee when something near the entrance way caught her eye. Apparently, the both Catherine and Sara had noticed as well. Nick and Warrick were standing outside the shop, waiting impatiently as Greg tied Hershey outside the restaurant.

The three men entered the restaurant somewhat loudly. Stephanie stood up and waved them over, kissing Greg affectionately before he sat down beside her on the couch. Excitedly, she announced, "We all found our dresses, we have two more fittings and then it's taken care of. What about tuxes, have you guys gotten anywhere with yours yet?" Stephanie asked, even though she already knew the answer.

The guys exchanged looks and then laughed. "Let's just pretend we didn't hear the question, then you can't get mad at the response." Greg replied with ease.

"Okay then, I'll just pretend I didn't hear that." Stephanie said, punching Greg's arm. He rubbed it, feigning pain.

* * *

Stephanie leaned towards the bathroom mirror, attempting to fit her retainer into place, simultaneously cursing herself for not wearing it more regularly. After her story telling session in the bridal shop she'd decided to start wearing the retainer more often to improve her smile in time for the wedding. She'd emailed photos of the dress off to Jules so that she could start working on the charts. February was a bit of a slow season for Jules, so Stephanie knew that the wedding currently had her full attention.

If it hadn't been for the reflection in the mirror, Stephanie never would have seen Greg standing in the doorway, Hershey snuggled into his arms. The four month old puppy was growing quickly, as were her escapades. Last week she'd eaten an entire deck of cards and then proceeded to chase Bob up the curtains. Stephanie shrunk back, embarrassed at her orthodontic apparel. Greg noticed the look on her face as he entered. He reached into the open bathroom cabinet and pulled out a round blue box. Opening it he pulled out his own retainer and put it in place. "See," he said, "you're not the only one with special needs."

Stephanie lay in bed as she turned the page of her mystery novel; Greg came in and picked the book up from her reach, reading the back. "'A gruesome, spine tingling tale of deceit and tragedy in small town America.' Don't you get enough of this stuff at work?" He asked curiously.

"It reminds me that there's always an ending. Every book, every story, the bad guy always ends up behind bars. Real life doesn't have that much reliability. It's comforting." Stephanie stated matter-of-factly.

"I see," Greg pondered, "so it's like a security blanket. A criminalist's equivalent of the single person's happy ending guaranteed romance novel."

"Exactly," Stephanie replied, "you catch on quick."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Hi everyone! I'm so glad to hear that you all like this story so much! I've finally mastered my computer and have managed to include the link to Stephanie's wedding dress in my profile. So, as always please R&R and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI, or Truly, Madly, Deeply by the wonderful Savage Garden.

Ch.3

Catherine zipped the back of Stephanie's dress, then turned around as Jules tucked a towel into the front of her dress and begun her make-up application while her hair set. None of the five women could believe how fast the past eight months had flown by since Greg's surprise proposal. Lana was busying herselfflitting about the room while stressing the importance of the champagne fountain at the reception to the caterer on the other end of her cell phone. Meanwhile Sara and Catherine were traveling back and forth through the halls excitedly to see the guys as they prepared for the big day.

Sara knocked on the door of the suite on the other end of the hallway. Nick was the one to answer. "How's he holding up?" She whispered.

"Nervous, but excited. How're things on your end, anything exciting happen yet?"

"Nothing much, we narrowly avoided a make-up melt down, but we recovered with no casualties." Sara looked Nick up and down. She was amazed at how dashing he looked in the tuxedo and champagne vest and tie. "Look, we match." She pointed out to Nick.

He laughed as he came to the same conclusion as Sara. Her champagne coloured dress complemented her dark hair and fair complexion nicely. A burst of deep laughter erupted in the background, both Nick and Sara turned to see what was so funny. They both saw Warrick doubled over in laughter as Greg stalked across the room to retrieve his tie. Apparently Greg had been having some trouble keeping his nerves in check while trying to tie his tie. Nick took the tie from the frustrated Greg's hands and tied it for him. "There ya go Greggo," he said, "all better." Greg only glared at him.

It wasn't until that point that he saw Sara standing in the doorway. "Hey Sara," he said shakily, "how's Steph? Is she doing okay?"

"Don't worry Greg, she's fine." Sara reassured Greg. She couldn't help but notice a look of relaxation fall over his face at the mention of Stephanie.

Sara opened the door to the bridal suite to find Stephanie surrounded by Catherine, Jules, Lana, Ines, and Lise. "Quick, Sara, close the door!" Lana called.

Jules was busying herself with hair and make-up details. "Would you please sit still Stephanie?" Jules pleaded with Stephanie. "Otherwise you'll have lopsided curls, is that what you want?" Stephanie shook her head, trying to suppress that massive amounts of giggles that were about to erupt. Jules sighed and removed another bobby pin from her hair. The newly released tendril fell to frame her face, bouncing back into a loose curl. Stephanie had let her hair grow long, so once all the pins had been removed her hair fell down below her shoulder blades. Her hair was in loose, long curls, while her eyes were very a very soft smoky grey and her lips had been stained a deep crimson red. As usual Jules hadn't allowed Stephanie anywhere near a mirror until the very end, leaving the final outcome a complete surprise. As usual, this drove her mad.

Stephanie was finally alowed to see herself so she walked over to the mirror and gasped at the shock of seeing herself for the first time. "Jules! You're a miracle worker!"

"Well babe, the raw materials weren't all that bad." Jules teased as she sprayed her hair with the ump-teenth layer of hair spray.

Stephanie went over her mental checklist once more before heading down to the limo. "Something old, Mama's headpiece. Something new, dress. Something borrowed, Lana's veil. Something blue," Stephanie paused as she picked up the gorgeously arranged bouquet of deep red roses and carefully turned it upside down to reveal a blue latex glove wrapped around the base. "Check." She said with a smile. Her bridal party looked at her quizzically, "Greg will get it," she said with a laugh. "Now who's gonna help me down to this limo?"

* * *

It wasn't until she was standing behind the closed doors of what had been Greg's church while he was young, ready to go down the aisle, that Stephanie fully realized what she was about to do. She pulled Jules aside, panicked, "I'm really doing this aren't I?"

"Yes," Jules said slowly.

"For real?" Stephanie asked, Jules nodded slowly. "Oh lord," she gasped, "I'm doing it, I'm getting married today. Now, actually."

Jules laughed at Stephanie's moment of panic induced hysterics, "Steph, you're getting married today. To a wonderful man who loves you more than anything in the world. I've known him for two days and I'm sure that he would do anything and everything for you. All that aside, I will leave with you right now if that's what you want. But I would seriously consider what you'd be leaving behind. Greg loves you, and I know you love him. The rest, my dear, is up to you."

Stephanie looked Jules in the eyes, lasted only two seconds before breaking down to tears. "I love you!" She exclaimed. "I love you so much, thank you!"

"Alright, I love you too. But I do believe that there's a guy up there waiting for you."

Catherine, Sara, Lana and Jules each gave Stephanie a quick hug and a kiss before taking their turn in walking arm in arm down the aisle with Warrick, Nick, Grissom and Steven, a friend of Greg's from college.

Stephanie looked down at the ring on her finger as the string trio switched from playing Pachelbel Canon to the Wedding March. Stephanie knew this was her cue. She took her father's arm as the doors opened before her. At that moment Stephanie and Greg made eye contact for the first time that day. Once she saw Greg her fears melted away and all that was left were her and him.

Nick looked over at Greg standing to his right. A love struck smile plastered across his face. Nick looked from Greg to Stephanie, who looked stunning as she glided gracefully down the aisle. He couldn't help but notice the connection between his two friends. The visual connection between the two was so thick you could almost see it. Before they knew it Stephanie and her father had reached the end of the aisle, he kissed her on the cheek and shook Greg's hand before placing it in Stephanie's. And with that, the ceremony had begun.

* * *

"I do." Greg said, grinning widely.

"I do." Stephanie said as she fought back tears, desperately trying to remain composed. She looked up at Greg and his grin.

A few moments later, the moment that Stephanie had been dreaming of ever since she was a little girl finally arrived. "Ladies and gentlemen, it is my great pleasure to introduce to you, for the very first time, Mr. and Mrs. Gregory Hojem Sanders. Mr. Sanders, you may now kiss the bride."

The church erupted in applause as Stephanie and Greg grinned ecstatically. Greg leaned forward and dipped Stephanie, making their first kiss as husband and wife all the more meaningful.

* * *

The hours short hours between the ceremony and the reception flew by quickly. Stephanie and Greg were whisked off after the ceremony to the beach where they took photos. The weather had been perfect and made for the most gorgeous photos. The sun had begun to set as rays of red, orange and gold played in the background. After posing for numerous photos Greg, Stephanie and the rest of the bridal party had tired of smiling. Finally Lana pulled her electronic day-planner out of her clutch and announced that they would be late for the reception if they didn't leave immediately.

A sleek black limo pulled up outside of the yacht club's front doors. The chauffer came round to open the door. Stephanie and Greg stepped out of the elegant vehicle. As they reached the doors that led to the outdoor reception they could hear the band slow to a stop. Inside Nick, who'd been appointed master of ceremonies for the evening, stepped up to the microphone to make his introductions. "Good evening," his smooth voice spread throughout the, "my name is Nick Stokes, best man; I will be your master of ceremonies for this evening. It is my pleasure to introduce to you Lana Suderson, maid of honor. The bride's maids, Jules Potente, Catherine Willows and the lovely Sara Sidle." He said with a wink in Sara's direction. "And the groom's men, Warrick Brown, Gil Grissom, and Steven Chambers." Nick paused until he received a nod from the manager signaling that the bride and groom had arrived and were ready for their entrance. "And now, the moment you've all been waiting for, for the second time, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. and Mrs. Greg Sanders!"

The band struck up a swinging rendition of 'The Wedding March' as Stephanie and Greg burst through the doors, arm in arm, each of them beaming. Their friends and family clapped loudly. Stephanie gasped as she admired their outdoor reception venue. The sun was just beginning to disapear for the night as the fairy lights lit up the surrounding trees making the whole scene seem magical. Three of the four sides of the venue were lined with trees, the fourth opened up to a gorgeous view of the ocean. The photographers were running around like mad taking photos of guests, the head table, the dance floor and most of all, the happy couple. As the pair took their places at the head table the waiters were beginning to serve dinner. Once all the plates had been set the guests began to click their glasses, chanting 'kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss.' Stephanie blushed; she knew exactly what was coming. Greg looked over at his bride, grinning. "Well," he said, mischievously, "we gotta do what we gotta do." With that he snuck a hand behind her head and gently pulled her into a dramatic, crowd pleasing kiss. The guest cheered and clapped.

Once the first course had been finished the waiters came round again to fill everyone's glasses with champagne. It was time for toasts; Stephanie glanced at her mother as they both pulled tissues out, just in case. As maid of honor Lana took the first slot. Lana stepped up to the mike, pulling out a set of cue cards. "When Stephanie and I were younger, like most sisters, we used to adore playing house. Our games were often more complex than the average ones and would carry on for weeks at a time, involving jobs, kids, pets and mock arguments. One thing that never changed was the fact that no matter how long we played, no matter how many times, I was always the husband. Stephanie used her older sister powers of persuasion to insist that I be the boy, never once could I be the girl. So, I would like to officially thank Greg for relieving me of my husbandly duties. I know from experience that she's not going to be an easy wife, but I can guarantee that you will never get bored. I wish you both the best of luck. To Greg and Stephanie." With that Lana raised her glass; the rest of the guests dutifully raised their glasses, "to Greg and Stephanie!" They said in chorus.

Next up for toasts was Nick; he made his way to the microphone and cleared his throat. "When I first started working at the lab one of the first people that I met was Greg. Despite the fact that Greg and I have vastly different tastes in music, food and all other things in life, we became quick friends. Years later Greg made the leap from lab to field, showing us another side to the crazy lab rat we once knew. Unfortunately, we couldn't help but notice the toll which field work took on our Greggo. We were beginning to wonder if we'd lost our boy, until one day two years ago. Almost a polar opposite to Greg, Stephanie graced us with her presence as the labs first exclusive profiler. After a few gentle pushes Stephanie and Greg became close friends, and after making it through some rough seas Stephanie and Greg began to date. Their relationship quickly blossomed, and as it grew we began to see the lighter side of Greg return. The bond between the two was immediately noticeable. Greg and Stephanie have benefited from each other phenomenally. They have each grown together, bringing out the best in each other. Stephanie's calm, mature influences help Greg keep his feet on the ground, while his lighthearted nature helps to keep Stephanie smiling. Never have I seen two people more meant to be together. With that, we raise our glasses, to Greg and Stephanie, may they lead long, happy and healthy lives together."

The next toast was Jules'; Stephanie had spent many nights worrying about this one. Jules had always teased Stephanie about what she was going to say at her wedding. She knew the multitude of stories of Stephanie's day's in high school, most of which were not at all flattering. Nonetheless Stephanie let her have her turn, praying that she would spare her. Jules walked confidently up to the mike and began her toast. "Stephanie and I have been friends since the eighth grade. We know each other better than we know ourselves, so I knew that Greg was something special from the very beginning. As I'm sure many of you know, our girl went through a tough time in her first few months at the lab. Meanwhile, I heard nothing of any of this, because, apparently, she didn't want to bother me. I had to hear the news through lengthy channels, so when Stephanie called me to tell me about her first date with Greg I knew this was big. We spent our high school days searching for our princes, our knight in shining armor, we even kissed a few frogs along the way, just in case, although I won't mention any names. Finally, Stephanie has found her prince. So now, will you please raise your glasses to Stephanie and Greg, may they live happily ever after."

At the end of her toast Stephanie hugged Julie thankfully. She was so overwhelmed by everything; it was hard to believe that all this had really happened. Three courses later it was time for their first dance. Greg took Stephanie's hand and led her down to the dance floor. The band struck up into a song, and the singer stepped up to the mike.

_I want to stand with you on a mountain  
I want to bathe with you in the sea  
I want to lay like this forever  
Until the sky falls down on me_

Greg held her close as he swept her gracefully across the dance floor. "Thank you," he whispered.

"For what?" Stephanie looked up at him quizzically.

"For marrying me," Greg said shyly.

"For marry you?" Stephanie looked up at him, slowing her pace. "Greg baby," she paused, "you're welcome." With that she reached up and kissed him with such passion that they heard an 'ooo' from the on looking guests. Eventually they regretfully parted at the realization that the song had ended, they had danced their first dance as husband and wife.

* * *

As they stepped out of the elevator Greg snuck up behind Stephanie and literally swept her off her feet. "Greg!" Stephanie yelped in surprise, "what do you think you're doing?"

"I'm carrying you over the threshold," he said with gusto as the bellman opened the door to the honeymoon suite.

"Mr. and Mrs. Sanders, your suite," he said, flourishing his arm to reveal a large suite, closing the door behind the couple.

Greg carried Stephanie through the door with ease and laid her delicately on the king sized bed. Stephanie giggled as Greg planted an innocent kiss on her lips, "Mrs. Sanders, what do you suggest we do now?"

Stephanie surveyed the room around her. Paintings hung along the champagne coloured walls and on the soft bedspread hundreds of rose petals were scattered. "Well Mr. Sanders," she looked over her shoulder to the bed behind her, "I do have one idea." She raised her eyebrows mischievously.

"Mrs. Sanders," Greg began, caressing the soft curls around her face, "I like the way you think."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Thanks to everyone for your reveiws! Hope you enjoy the next chapter, sorry it's kinda short, but I promise that there's lots of good and long stuff to come!

Ch.4

The sun shone in bright through the gossamer curtains hanging from the floor to ceiling windows over looking the turquoise water. Stephanie kissed Greg gingerly on the cheek before softly swinging her feet over the side of the canopy bed to touch the hard wood floors.

Pulling back the curtains she stepped out onto the deck. The ocean breeze lifted her hair off her neck. Looking out onto the beach she sighed, she could hardly believe she was here, in Cuba, on her honeymoon. Just then she felt a strong pair of arms wrap themselves around her waist protectively. "Mmm, good morning Mr. Sanders." She said dreamily.

Greg looked down at his wife, dressed in a simple cotton teddy, her bare feet revealed deep red painted toenails leading up to long, dark tanned legs. He fought hard to contain the sensation that was quickly spreading through his body. "Good morning Mrs. Sanders." He planted a delicate kiss on the top of her head. "Tell me Mrs. Sanders,"

"Yes Mr. Sanders,"

"Are you ready to learn to surf today?" He ran his hand from her waist to the hem of her teddy.

"Mr. Sanders, I fully intend to learn to surf today. After one simple thing…"

"And what might that be Mrs. Sanders?" Greg questioned playfully.

With that Stephanie swiveled in his arms to face him, kissing her way up from his neck to his lips, pausing briefly. "I think you know what I'm thinking of Mr. Sanders."

* * *

After a morning in bed with Greg and an exhausting afternoon of surfing; Stephanie and Greg strolled along the beach outside of their hotel room. Their fingers entwined as they walked along the white sand beach which seemed to stretch on forever.

Greg looked over to his wife, who was dressed in a black bikini top and a red cotton sarong. Her bare feet leaving delicate foot prints in the sand as they walked. The setting sun in the background made her chestnut hair sparkle and her tan look deeper. He couldn't believe just how gorgeous she really was.

"Steph," Greg began, throwing his thoughts out into the air.

"Mmhmm," Stephanie said softly, bringing her gaze from the sun set to Greg.

"How did I get so lucky?" He asked, turning fully to face her, taking both hands in his.

"What are you talking about?" She looked at him, pulling his hips into hers. "Everyone knows I'm the lucky one." With that she drew her lips up to meet his, parting them gently with a flick of her tongue. Greg knew at that moment that all hope of their stroll along the beach was lost. The only thing on his mind was the beautiful girl before him and the fastest route back to their hotel room.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update, I've been working like mad on my final report for my socialization class. I think I've gone powerpoint mad. Anyways, I promise I'll update faster next time. So, please review and enjoy!

Ch.5

Taking a sip from the cup of coffee on the counter Stephanie looked back at her watch, thirty seconds had passed. She stood up and returned to pacing the room. The bathroom of their apartment was only about eight feet long, but it was beginning to feel like two. Stephanie looked at her watch, one minute; she still had to wait another five minutes.

It had been two months since Stephanie and Greg had returned from their month long honeymoon in Cuba. Cuba had been fantastic. Greg convinced Stephanie to learn to surf, and in turn she'd convinced him to go horse back riding on the beach. Each had returned tanned and refreshed. They had spent every waking, and sleeping moment together. It had been a month of paradise.

It had also been two months since Stephanie had been able to fit into her favorite pair of skinny jeans. Two months since the smell of her once beloved sushi made her run for the nearest washroom. It had been two months since she couldn't watch a sappy commercial without breaking down to tears. She couldn't imagine what Greg must be thinking of his new wife; she was either crying, craving or running to the nearest washroom.

Returning to the side of the counter where a small cardboard box sat next to the sink Stephanie looked at her watch. Her six minutes were up. Taking a deep breath, she picked the box up and compared it to the stick in her hand.

* * *

Greg knocked softly on the bathroom door. Stephanie had been in there for over ten minutes, he was beginning to worry. After no response he knocked again, "Steph, you feeling okay?" 

Greg heard what sounded like rearranging of things through the door. It was the first sound he'd heard since Stephanie had run into the bathroom when he'd come home from a shift at the lab with sushi take out. Everything had been fine since they'd returned from the honeymoon until about a month ago. He just didn't understand what was going on; it was like being in high school again. Just then a soft voice came through the door, "umm, yah Greg, I'm fine. I'll be out in a minute okay?"

Greg nodded to the door, "okay."

* * *

Stephanie paced the room once more. She thought that once she knew what the results were that she would feel better. Instead, the pit in her stomach just grew deeper. She knew she'd have to tell him, she just didn't know how he'd react. Checking the box, and then the stick, just to be sure, once again it gave her the same results. Pregnant. Alongside the pit in her stomach, butterflies fluttered about. She couldn't believe it. In the past two years she'd met the most wonderful guy, gotten married, and now she was pregnant. It was like a story book. 

Realizing that she couldn't stay in there all day, Stephanie threw both the stick and the box into the trash can. Then, before opening the door, she covered it with tissues. As she opened the door Stephanie caught a glimpse of Greg pacing the hallway between the bathroom and their bedroom. Sneaking up behind him, Stephanie slid her arms around his waist. He turned around quickly, "hey." He said, planting a soft kiss on the top of her head. "Are you sure you're doing okay?"

"I'm better than okay," shesaid softly.Greg lifted his head and bent down to look her in the eyes. Stephanie took a deep breath before whispering in his ear, "I'm pregnant."

Greg straightened abruptly, smiling widely. "Are you sure?" He took her hands as Stephanie nodded silently. "Really?"

"Mmhmm," she giggled.

"You're sure?"

"Greg," she said, entwining her fingers in his. "I'm pregnant."

"Oh my god, we're pregnant." He placed a hand on her abdomen, looking into her eyes as if seeking her approval. She nodded, and his smile returned. "We're pregnant."

"Yes Greg, we're pregnant." Stephanie said giggling. "Any more questions?"

Greg seemed to ponder this for a moment. "Since when?"

"The honeymoon, I think."

Greg waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "The honeymoon, really?" He let a meandering hand run up her leg, "well, maybe we should do something to…celebrate."

"Indeed we should," she said as she nuzzled her head into his neck.

Later, as the pair lay tangled in each others arms Greg whispered into Stephanie's hair, "I love you."

"Really?" Stephanie questioned, "even if I get swollen ankles, raving hormones and unpredictable cravings?"

"Stephanie Marie-Thérèse Sanders, I love you, and I will continue to love you, swollen ankles, hormones, cravings and anything else you care to throw my way."

That was all Stephanie needed, she wove a hand around to the back of Greg's head and pulled him down to her level for a knee-buckling, butterfly inducing kiss.

* * *

At the beginning of the next shift, Stephanie and Greg made their way into the break room hand in hand. They knew that there was nothing that could prepare them for breaking the news to the team. They had decided to just come out and say it. 

Walking into the room Greg immediately made a bee-line for the coffee machine as Stephanie sat down at the table to join Catherine and Sara. Nick, Warrick and Grissom were just making their way in, arguing about their latest case.

"Hey Steph, how's it going?" Nick asked casually.

"Pregnant." She answered simply. Five heads swiveled immediately to face the beaming Stephanie. An eerie silence followed.

"What!" Sara exclaimed, first to break the silence.

Greg took a step behind Stephanie and placed a hand on her shoulder. She affectionately took his hand with one of hers and rubbed her slightly swollen abdomen with the other. "Pregnant." Greg replied simply.


	6. Chapter 6

Ch.6

Greg and Stephanie lay together on the couch, entwined in each other's arms. "Greg," Stephanie whispered softly.

"Mmhmm."

"What if it's good at sports?" Stephanie asked, sounding seriously concerned.

Greg laughed. "That's when we send it off to Uncle Nick and Uncle Warrick." He decided simply.

"We really have to stop calling it, well, it."

"Well what do you suppose we call it then?" He asked.

"I don't know, if your so smart why don't you come up with something." Stephanie teased.

"Let's see," Greg pondered as he lifted the hem of her shirt, examining her abdomen. "Looks almost like a Greg Jr. I'd say." Stephanie giggled and gently pushed him away, "okay, how about," Greg paused, "Tre." He said simply.

Stephanie tilted her head to look at him where he lay, his head resting in her lap. "Tre?" She questioned.

"It means 'three' in Norwegian. As in you, me and a baby make three." Greg waited for her approval.

"Greg," Stephanie cooed in amazement, "that's gorgeous." She laid a soft kiss on his lips. "Tre it is." She placed her hand over Greg's on her swollen abdomen. Stephanie was now five months pregnant and already beginning to show. After a few minutes Stephanie thought out loud again, "Greg, what do you want Tre to be?"

Greg seemed to ponder this for a moment. Stroking her abdomen as he thought. "Healthy," he finally decided.

Stephanie couldn't believe how amazing her husband was, yet many questions still hung in her mind. "What if we have twins?"

"What is this," Greg asked, "twenty questions?"

"Maybe." Stephanie replied.

"Well, then we'll be twice as lucky." Greg smiled, kissed Stephanie's stomach.

She laughed hysterically at this. "Okay then, since you seem to have all the answers for everything." She ran her fingers through his hair, "what happens when Tre is older and wants to pierce Tre's tongue?"

Greg laughed hysterically, "do you lie in bed at night thinking up these worries?"

"Yes," Stephanie said sheepishly, "at least if I'm worrying it makes me feeling like I'm doing something."

Greg sat up to face Stephanie and the worried look that danced across her face. "You don't have to worry about this, you're going to make a great mum. Can't you just see it," he flourished his hand before them, as if painting a picture. "You, Tre and I in a big house, in a nice neighborhood near all the good schools. We can see Tre through school and then grow old together…" Greg trailed off, kissing Stephanie's neck gently as he did so.

Stephanie stopped him abruptly, "Greg," she said as if realizing this for the first time, "we need a house!" She exclaimed. "I mean, your apartment is fine for the two of us, but we can't fit a baby in here."

"I know," Greg paused, "how about, since we both have the weekend off, we go house hunting. What do you say?"

"Okay," Stephanie teased, "but you do realize that you just added a very big item to my worry-list?"


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **Hi everyone, sooo sorry it took me so long to update, finals are coming up next week and needless to say they've kept me just a little bit busy. Anyways, please review and enjoy!

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Ch.7

Stephanie sat at her desk at the lab. Once she'd reached her sixth month Grissom had assigned her strictly to desk work. He'd decided that it wasn't safe for her to be out in the field in her condition. Flipping through the files on her desk her eyes flew to the magazine which she had set aside earlier. She looked around to ensure that no one was lurking around the corner before opening the magazine to look once again at her dream home. She sighed as the three story Victorian house, complete with detached three car garage and sizable back yard fell before her eyes. After her shift she would be going back to the house with Greg, the realtor and the safety inspector to make sure the house was up to code.

While she was busying herself with her day dreams she didn't notice Warrick standing in the doorway. "House hunting?" He asked.

"If all goes well we're putting the offer in tonight," Stephanie beamed, stroking her now very swollen stomach.

* * *

Greg sat on the desk behind Hodges waiting for the printer to spew out the results on a fiber from the case he was working. As he waited he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and nabbed the pen from behind Hodge's ear. He folded and unfolded the paper until he was left with a blank space. On it he drew a simple grid and began to set up a Punnett square. He put his dominant and non-dominant alleles on one side and Stephanie's two non-dominant alleles on the other. He'd worked out over fifty Punnett squares for the two of them, this one worked on eye colour. He'd been able to determine that Tre had a fifty percent chance of having blue eyes, and a fifty percent chance of having brown eyes. He'd also determined that there was no chance of Tre being colour blind.

Hodges grabbed a piece of paper as the printer spat out the results on Greg's fiber. Reaching for the pen behind his ear, he finally noticed its absence. "You know Sanders, just cause you're a CSI now, doesn't mean you can go around stealing lab tech's stuff. We're people too!"

"Okay, will do Hodges." Greg shrugged off the disgruntled lab tech.

Greg was about to ask Hodges about his fiber analysis but before he could ask Hodges took the piece of paper from his hands. "Punnett squares Sanders?" Hodges raised his eyebrows. "You're doodling Punnett squares of you and Stephanie? Wow, you're worse than I thought. I always thought Punnett squares were for high school biology geeks with major crushes."

Greg took the paper from Hodges hand, "as a matter of fact Hodges, it just so happens that Punnett squares can be very challenging when you don't know complete backgrounds. Now, I do believe you were about to give me that fiber analysis." Greg smirked as he handed over the print out. Turning on his heel Greg left to show the results to Nick and Warrick.

* * *

Greg put the car into reverse as he parked it in front of what could soon be their house. They were both equally in love with the house, but Stephanie had insisted on an evening walkthrough before putting in the offer.

It was nine o'clock at night and as Stephanie stepped out through the sliding door that led from the kitchen to the backyard she could hear crickets chirping in the bushes. The moon shone brightly as Stephanie peered over the fence to examine the neighborhood. She remembered when she was young that her parents always did their final walkthrough in the evening, to ensure that they saw the extent of the neighborhood. She had followed through with the checklist, a walkthrough each of during the day, in the rain and at night. And through it all, she was still in love with the house.

Stephanie made her way up the steps, imagining herself with a toddler on her hip climbing up these same steps a few years from now. Gently pushing open the door to what would soon become the nursery Stephanie placed a hand on her stomach, imagining her and Greg lulling Tre to sleep, midnight feedings, first steps and first words.

Greg came up the stairs to see Stephanie standing in the doorway of what they had decided would be the nursery. He came up behind her slowly, encircling his arms around her waist, layering his hands over hers. Just then he felt Tre kick the spot where their hands where laid. Stephanie giggled at Tre's reaction to Tre's father's presence. "I think Tre likes you," she whispered.

Greg smiled as he took her hand and led her across the hard wood floor to the window. "Just think, in a few months we could be standing here with a baby."

"I know," she whispered, "we're getting a baby. Someone is letting us, of all people, have a baby." Stephanie giggled, "what are we going to do with a baby?"

Greg placed his chin on top of Stephanie's head, smiling. "We are going to be fine, and you," he looked her in the eyes, "are going to be an amazing mother."

* * *

**A/N: **Just a note for those of you who don't know, a Punnet square is a diagram used to discover genetic traits of babies based on those of their parents. 


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update, I've got exams all this and most of next week so I've been studying like a mad woman. Anyways, here's the latest chaper, enjoy and please review!**

Ch. 8

It had been two months since Stephanie and Greg had put the offer in on the house. Since then the offer had gone through effortlessly and the pair had moved in a month after. The whole team had shown up to help them move in. Nick, Warrick, Grissom and Greg moved boxes and furniture while Sara, Catherine and Stephanie painted the rooms.

Stephanie, dressed in an ancient pair of overalls, which were held together by a scrunchie on either side, dipped the roller of her paint brush into a sunshine yellow tray of paint. Sara was doing details around windows and doorframes while Catherine was working on the moldings. Stephanie pushed a strand of hair off her forehead, smearing paint on her face as she did so. Her back was killing her so she went to the kitchen to pour herself some ice tea and see how the guys were holding up.

Balancing a tray of ice tea's on her hip she made her way up the stairs to the nursery where Greg and Nick were moving furniture into. As she made her way through the door Stephanie paused to see Nick sitting cross legged on the floor surrounded by instructions in a variety of languages. To his right Greg was knelt in front of a halfway constructed crib, a screwdriver in one hand a wooden bar in the other. "Connect piece 'C' to what now?" Greg asked, obviously confused. Stephanie chuckled in the doorway, heartily amused by this display of confusion. "I'd like to see you try this, three quarters of these instructions aren't even English."

"Here," Stephanie said as she put the tray on the dresser and knelt down beside Greg, taking the screwdriver from his hands. In less than ten minutes Stephanie had the crib assembled.

"How did you? How…?" Nick and Greg gaped, impressed at the pregnant woman before them.

"Hey," Stephanie said simply, "moving around has its benefits. I had to assemble my own bed when I was a kid." With that she kissed Greg on the cheek, ruffled Nick's hair and retreated downstairs to find Grissom and Warrick, leaving the two men and their hanging jaws to tackle the changing table.

Stephanie made her way down the stairs, the sun shone in through the windows, illuminating the hallway and staircase. Looking out the open front door she saw Grissom and Warrick carrying a couch, "living room please," she called out to them. "Watch the walls, they're still wet." She added.

"Any chance one of those glasses might be for me?" Warrick asked in passing.

"Well if it isn'tyour lucky day Warrick. It just so happens that there's a glass for you and one for Grissom." Stephanie passed out the glasses of iced tea to the pair as they set the couch on the ground. Smiling, she surveyed the living room. The furniture was arranged just as she had planned, the walls were painted different shades of warm brown, the deck doors had been propped open, allowing the cool breeze to waft through the house.

Stephanie fingered the tiny fish that hung around her neck on a delicate gold chain. She'd worn the fish charm every day since she was a teenager. It was her good luck charm. Next to the fish her fingers found her wedding and engagement rings. Early on in her pregnancy she'd had to wear them round her neck because of the swelling in her fingers. Greg came and stood beside her on the stairs, weaving his fingers into hers.

"It's ready." He whispered in her ear. Then, silently he led her up the stairs to the nursery. He gently pushed open the wooden door to reveal the nursery, completed. The walls had been painted a very pale yellow; the dark beech wood crib and changing table complemented it completely. The blankets in the crib were delicately embroidered with tiny sheep and cows jumping over moons. The sheep skin rug at the foot of the bed felt soft under her feet. Stephanie laughed as she saw the mobile strung from the ceiling, several tiny Bohr models danced about the crib. "You can take the boy out of the lab but you can't take the lab out of the boy, can you?" Greg only grinned in response. Stephanie gasped as she saw what was in the corner. "Greg," she gasped, "how did you-? When did you-?"

"Your mother had it sent over," he said, motioning to the corner of the room, in which sat the dark cedar rocking chair that her father had made for her mother when she was pregnant with Isabella. Atop the rocker was laid a large knit blanket, the pastel colours blending seamlessly from one to another. "Your great aunt sent the blanket in the mail."

Stephanie threw her arms around Greg, "thank you," she whispered, "its perfect."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hi everyone, thanks a bunch for all your reviews. I really hope you all love this chapter, so PLEASE review and let me know!**

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Ch.9

"Sanders," Stephanie said with a smile as she picked up her cell phone.

"Stephanie, its Catherine. I need you at the scene, we've got 2 DB's and everyone else is on an assignment. There's no risk on the scene, there's Sofia, myself and four uniforms."

"Okay, give me ten minutes." Stephanie said eager to get out from behind her desk.

* * *

Stephanie eased her nine month pregnant self out of the car to see Catherine running towards her. 

"Hey Steph, thanks so much for coming out. I know you're not supposed to be in the field but like I said everyone else is on assignments. Plus Greg has threatened me life and limb if I called you out, so you can tell I'm desperate." By the time they'd reached the apartment building Catherine had filled Stephanie in on the latest case. Apparently the young girl came home to her apartment building to find her boyfriend shot in the head on the bedroom floor. She freaked out and climbed onto the balcony and when people in the apartment building across the street saw her on the ledge they called nine-one-one. Less than five minutes later the girl jumped and died on impact.

When the elevator got to the fifteenth floor Stephanie and Catherine stepped out to see a trail of bloody footprints leading from the apartment to the stairs. Stephanie looked out over the balcony to see David processing the body, having had already processed the boyfriend. As Stephanie opened her kit to retrieve a pair of latex gloves Catherine's radio went off, "SUPSPECT ON LOCATION! SUSPECT ON LOCATION!"

"Shit!" Catherine cursed under her breath, "are you okay to cover this?"

"Yeah, go." Stephanie motioned, waving a gloved handto the door, but Catherine had already raced out. Stephanie pulled out some print powder and began to process the bedroom. As she carefully bent down to retrieve some print lifting paper from her kit a sharp pain hit her abdomen. Calm down, she mentally told Tre, you're not due for another two weeks, so you can just chill. For the past week she'd had occurring pains in her abdomen, she'd gone to see her doctor but she'd said it was completely normal for this stage.

After Stephanie had lifted a few partials and second pain hit her, this time much harder than the ones before. She clutched her stomach and grimaced. This was defiantly not normal. She looked around for a sign of Catherine's return, finding none she pulled her cell phone out of its waist clip and hit Greg's number on speed dial.

* * *

**A/N: I know, I'm evil for leaving it here, but if I kept going it'd be longer than you could ever imagine, lol. Anyways, review! Review! And oh yeah, review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Sorry, another shot chapter, but I promise another long one is coming. If I get enough reviews I'll try to get it posted before tomorrow night (hint hint).

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Ch.10

Catherine stepped back, keeping her eye on the suspect. After running through the alley she was able to tackle the suspect and pin him to the wall. Sofia came and relieved her only a few short moments later, but to Catherine it felt like hours. Just as Sofia had handcuffed and gotten the suspect into the car they heard sirens racing down the street towards the apartment building. This time, they weren't just police sirens, there was an ambulance to. Upon hearing the sirens the only thing Catherine could think of was Stephanie. She'd seen it happen with Holly Gribbs, there was no saying that it couldn't happen to Stephanie. The sinking feeling only got larger as Catherine saw the ambulance pull up alongside the police car as the paramedics raced into the building. There were already four uniforms on the scene, despite what could be going on, she didn't see the need for more attention. It was just asking the media to get involved. Running towards the building she caught a glimpse of who was in the police car. Brass and Greg. She did a double take.

"Greg!" She yelled over the sirens, "what are you doing here?" She panicked, realizing that if anything were to happen to Stephanie or that baby that it would be all her fault.

Catherine tried to read the look on Greg's face, all she could see was fear and panic. "Steph called me said something was wrong with the baby. So I got down here as fast as I could. Where is she?"

"This way," Catherine said, but by the time they made it to the stairs of the apartment building the elevator doors opened to reveal the paramedics rushing Stephanie to the waiting ambulance. "You riding?" Catherine asked Greg the obvious question as he followed the stretcher into the back of the ambulance. The doors closing behind him before he could respond.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Here you go, and it's a nice long one too! Thanks so much for all the reviews, I hope you all really like this chapter, review if you do, review if you don't. Enjoy!**

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Ch.11

The doors to the emergency room flew open. Stephanie lay on the stretcher, conscious but using an oxygen mask. Greg ran beside the stretcher, holding her hand tightly as he did so. "Greg," Stephanie removed the mask to talk.

Greg looked up wordlessly, his eyes wide with panic. "I'm okay Greg." She said calmly. "I'm in labor, I'm not dying." She joked.

Greg's face seemed to relax as they arrived in the maternity ward of the hospital. Another contraction hit Stephanie hard and she screamed in pain. Greg's grip on her hand tightened, reassuring her of his presence. Stephanie's mind flew to that day in Grissom's office, while Vernada tore into her, how Greg had held her hand so attentively.

A young blonde nurse came into the room, checking the chart at the foot of the bed before examining Stephanie. "Okay Mrs. Sanders, looks like you're about ten centimeters. Wow that was fast."

"Of course she was," a thick French accent broke through the room as Ines O'Neil announced her presence, "quick labors run in the family!"

"Mama!" Stephanie cried as she saw her mother. "How did you know? When did you?" She looked at Greg, who merely shrugged his shoulders.

"Stéphanie, hush!" Ines cut off her daughters questions. "A mother knows, " she said with ease. At that moment another contraction hit Stephanie, much harder than the last; they were growing closer and closer together at this point. Ines made her way to the side of the bed, taking Stephanie's other hand she lowered herself to meet Stephanie eye to eye. "Look at me," she instructed, "focus on your breath." Stephanie puffed out a few breaths. The nurse tried to interrupt Ines but she brushed her out of the way, cursing in French under her breath, "I didn't spend six years in med school to be hushed."

The nurse told a frantic Greg that he needed to go put on a pair of scrubs. This did little to calm his nerves. "What?" He panicked, "is she going into surgery? I thought she was-"

"Greg," Stephanie interrupted him, "it's just procedure, relax."

* * *

After what felt like hours Stephanie fell back against the bed, exhausted. Greg stroked her hair affectionately, "you did it babe, you did it." He murmured softly.

"Where is she?" Stephanie looked around, trying to sit up.

"She's fine," Greg reassured her, "your mum is with her and doctors."

Stephanie tried to remember what had happened, the last thing she remembered was her after her mother had shown up, she made her promise to stay with the baby. She had the severe fear that somehow her baby would get mixed up with someone else's. Before Stephanie had a chance to fully recollect her thoughts, the nurse, followed by Ines re-entered the room. The nurse was carrying a tiny baby, wrapped in layers of blankets, a pink cap sitting atop her tiny head. She gingerly placed the tiny baby on Stephanie's chest. Greg bent down to get a closer look at his new baby daughter, the perfect mixture of him and Stephanie.

"So," Ines began, "what's her name?"

Greg and Stephanie exchanged looks, Greg nodded and Stephanie began. "Isabella Else Sanders." She looked from the tiny baby cradled in her arms to her mother.

A tear formed in Ines' eye before she quickly wiped it away, "trés bonne," she whispered, leaning down to kiss baby Isabella on her tiny forehead. "On one condition," she turned gravely to face both Stephanie and Greg. "Under no circumstances, is anyone, anyone at all to call her Izzy." A broad smile broke across Ines' face.

Stephanie laughed, relieved. When she and Isabella were growing up her grandmother used to always call Isabella, Izzy, which everyone else resented. Ines bent down to kiss Stephanie on the cheek, "she's got your eyes," she said softly.

Greg smiled as he looked at his wife and daughter. Stephanie looked down at the baby in her arms as Isabella's tiny mouth cracked open into a yawn. "Oh my god," Greg whispered, "she's looking at me."

Stephanie laughed as Greg stood beside her, locked in a staring contest with Isabella. Eventually she won when a soft knock came at the door, causing Greg to look up immediately. Catherine, Warrick, Sara, Nick, Grissom and Sofia stood eagerly in the doorway. "So…?" Catherine leaned in eager to see the new baby.

"Come in, come in!" Stephanie motioned, waving her free arm in their direction.

Once everyone had huddled round the bed Greg took over introductions. "Everyone," he paused dramatically, "this is Isabella Else Sanders." Stephanie gently lifted Isabella up and handed her to Greg. Greg, upon holding his baby daughter for the first time beamed. Greg, holding Isabella protectively, brought her around from his side of the bed to show her off to the team. Sara, Catherine and Sofia 'ooed' and 'awwed' as Greg proudly carried Isabella around the room.

Grissom, Nick and Warrick stood awkwardly in the corner. "Come on guys," Stephanie encouraged them, "I promise she won't bite." She joked. The guys seemed to relax a little, making their way tentatively towards Greg and baby Isabella. "So tell me," Stephanie began to ask, "who won the bet?"

Nick and Warrick exchanged looks, Warrick looking slightly happier than Nick. Nick spoke up, "Warrick," he said in a defeated manner.

"Told ya she'd have a girl," Warrick teased, peering over Greg's shoulder to get a closer view of Isabella. "She's got your eyes Steph, she's gorgeous."

Isabella rubbed her eyes and let out a sigh, her lips settling into a perfect, lopsided, little grin. "Greg," Sara gasped, "would you look at that, she's got your grin."

Greg looked down at his daughter, a lopsided grin spread across his face, exactly mirroring Isabella's.

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**A/N: Isabella is the name of Stephanie's sister, as mentioned in Good Morning Sunshine. **


	12. Chapter 12

Ch. 12

"Greg!" Stephanie squealed as she stepped carefully through the entranceway and into their house for the first time with Isabella cradled protectively in her arms. "Turn off the camera!"

"Aren't you going to want to remember this?" Greg asked, almost tripping over a chair as he walked backwards through the house, all the while keeping the camera focused on Stephanie and Isabella.

"Yes," Stephanie said in a hushed voice, "I just don't want you killing yourself in the process." Isabella, dressed in a tiny, pink sleeper, a gift from Catherine, lay snuggled in Stephanie's arms, fast asleep. Greg dropped Stephanie's overnight bag onto the couch and took Stephanie's hand, leading her to the deck, filming her all the while. "Greg, where are we going? I finally got Isabella to sleep."

"Shhh," Greg whispered, "just come with me." Greg led Stephanie through the kitchen to the deck. He pushed open the French door to the deck, revealing every criminalist and lab tech in Vegas waiting in anticipation on the deck.

"Surprise!" They whispered in chorus. Stephanie surveyed her deck. A large banner was strung behind her reading: "Welcome Home Stephanie and Isabella!" On the picnic table sat a huge cake and a giant bowl of punch. Stephanie gently passed Isabella to Greg, who took the tiny baby in his arms like the proud dad he was. Surprisingly enough Isabella remained asleep through all of this.

Eventually Isabella woke up, quite content to stay in the arms of whoever was holding her and soak up the attention. Everyone was amazed at how quickly Greg had taken to the role of a dad. He took every chance he had to hold Isabella, and when he couldn't hold her he kept a close, caring eye on her. As the morning carried on eventually Catherine declared it was time for presents. She was miraculously able to orchestrate everyone to sit around the perimeter of the deck while Stephanie was handed present after present.

By the end of the day Stephanie and Greg had received every single kind of baby accessory, toy and clothing item they could imagine.

* * *

That evening Stephanie sat back into the rocker in their newly christened nursery and began to lull Isabella to sleep. Humming softly she began, "_toora, loora, loora. Toora, loora, li. Hush, now, don't you cry. Ah, toora, loora, loora. Toora, loora, li. Toora, loora, loora. It's an Irish lullaby." _

Greg stood in the doorway of the nursery, watching Stephanie rock Isabella to sleep, singing softly. Stephanie looked up as she finished her song, smiling when she saw Greg leaning against the doorframe, grinning. She slowly got up to gently place a now sleeping Isabella in her crib. Greg came and stood beside her. As Stephanie placed Isabella in her crib, Isabella instinctively stuck a thumb in her mouth and her other fingers curled around her ear. Greg leaned down to kiss his baby girl lightly on the forehead, stroking the tiny dark curls that were already beginning to appear on her head. He wrapped an arm affectionately around Stephanie's waist.

"We did it," he whispered, "we're parents."

"I know," Stephanie said in amazement, "we have a baby."

Greg bent down and kissed Stephanie tenderly before whispering, "I love you." And just like it did the first time he'd said it so many years ago, hearing those words sent a shock through her body. Bringing her back to the unbelievable reality in which she was living.

"I love you too." She murmured, burying her head into his chest.

* * *

**A/N: The song that Stephanie sings to Isabella is called "An Irish Lullaby". It's a really pretty tune that most people know from Bing Crosby in the fifties. Anyways, please review and let me know what you think. **


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long to update, my computer has been acting up lately and I've been bombarded with exams for the past few weeks. Anyways, ch. 13 is finally here (yay!). So, as always, please review!

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Ch.13

Greg attached a leash to Hershey's collar as Stephanie strapped Isabella securely into her stroller.

"Ready?" Greg asked as Stephanie tucked a blanket into Isabella's stroller.

"Yep, are you ready to go Isabella?" Stephanie cooed, tickling her daughter under the chin. Isabella chuckled in response.

"I can't get over how much she looks like you," Greg said as he fit a tiny pink hat over Isabella's tiny brown curls. She was now two months old, and looking more and more like Stephanie every day. Nevertheless she kept Greg's goofy grin, which Stephanie couldn't decide who it looked more adorable on, Isabella's cheerful grin or Greg as he gazed adoringly at Isabella.

Once they'd returned home from their walk Greg began to make Hershey's dinner while Stephanie bathed Isabella and got her ready for bed. After feeding Hershey, Greg, who'd quickly become the chef in the family, went out to the back yard to start up the barbeque.

Stephanie wrapped a blanket around Isabella after putting her in a fresh pink sleeper for the night. Stephanie sat down carefully into the rocker with Isabella cradled safely in her arms. Isabella's eyes grew heavy as she nursed, her tiny fingers curling around a loose strand of Stephanie's hair.

Greg tiptoed into the room and closed the blinds, cutting off the streams of evening spring sunlight that shone through the window. He sat down on the window seat, across from Stephanie. Stroking Isabella's hair he kissed Stephanie on the cheek. Isabella's sucking slowed as the pair watched her slowly fall asleep. Making sure that Isabella was asleep Stephanie slowly got up and lowered Isabella into her crib. Greg leaned into the crib to kiss Isabella goodnight as Stephanie turned on the baby monitor then kissed two of her fingers before touching them softly to Isabella's lips.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Okay, big long chapter to make up for the recent short ones. It's a little bit different than most of this story so far, so PLEASE PLEASE review and let me know what you think!

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Ch.14

"Don't worry Steph; Lindsay is fully capable of looking after Bella for one night." Greg reassured Stephanie as she debated whether or not to stay home that evening.

She held a pair of shoes in her hand, swinging them as she spoke, "I know, just, what if she runs out of breast milk? Or Lindsay gets sick? Or, or…"

"Steph," Greg said, placing a hand gently on her arm, "they'll be fine. There's enough milk in the fridge to last well into next year. Catherine, you and I all have working cell phones and should all else fail the neighbors are right next door. Okay?" He ran his hands through her hair, coming to rest on her cheeks.

"Okay," Stephanie said, sinking into his arms. "We'll only be gone for a few hours right?"

"Right, we won't even stop for coffee on the way home, okay?"

"Okay," Stephanie exhaled deeply. It tore her apart to leave Isabella for the evening, so far she hadn't left her with anyone but Greg and even that was hard. Stephanie stepped back to smooth down her dress and do a final one over of her appearance before Catherine arrived with Lindsay. As she smoothed down the sleek black dress she caught a glimpse of Isabella rolling around playfully her playpen.

The doorbell rang, Stephanie glanced at the clock next to the bed, it was 6:00. Catherine and Lindsay were right on time. Greg bent into the playpen and scooped up Isabella, "okay Bella, are you ready to go play with Lindsay?" Greg cooed as he twirled Isabella around. Her giggles rang through the room; it was the happiest, most delightful sound Stephanie had ever heard.

As Greg headed down the stairs with Isabella to greet Catherine and Lindsay, Stephanie surveyed herself in the mirror one final time before heading downstairs. The neckline of her sleek, black, floor-length halter gown showed just a hint of cleavage. It had been two months since Stephanie had had Bella, most of her body had returned to normal, all except for her bust. It had nearly tripled in size. It had taken some getting used to, but while she looked forward to getting her real body back, she would miss some aspects of her new found cleavage.

She turned to the side revealing a high slit in her dress, running up to her mid thigh. Throwing a tube of lipstick into her clutch she headed down the stairs to meet up with Catherine and Lindsay. Tonight was the city's annual Black and White Ball. Last year it had been a blast and Stephanie was fully looking forward to it, though she couldn't bare the thought of leaving Bella for the night.

Stephanie stumbled down the stairs, silently regretting the three inch stilettos. She caught a glimpse of Lindsay playing with Isabella as she turned into the front hall, almost instantly her fears melted away. Seeing how good Lindsay was with Isabella meant the world to her.

As Stephanie reached the entranceway she was Greg standing at the door chatting amicably with Catherine. Catherine was stunning in a black floor length gown with a lace bustier. "Okay," Catherine said to Greg, "how exactly did she manage to do that?" She asked, motioning to Stephanie. "It took me years to get my body back after Lindsay, and she pulls it off in meremonths."

Stephanie laughed, "this is what months of kickboxing, yoga, and being too busy to think never mind eat can do to a person," She said with a twirl.

"Hey!" Greg said defensively, "you make it sound as if I don't do anything around here." Stephanie and Catherine exchanged knowing looks, laughing.

* * *

After running through emergency contacts and bedtime procedures with Lindsay, Catherine and Greg eventually dragged Stephanie out the door. Half an hour later, they arrived at the Black and White Ball, which was being held in one of Sam Braun's casinos. Surprisingly enough he and Catherine had made up since Nick's kidnapping.

Stephanie, Greg and Catherine stepped through the doors to the ballroom, gasping at the elegant scene before them. They saw police officers, criminalists, lab techs and many other city employees. Scanning the guest list Catherine found their table.

By the time they made their way across the ballroom, pausing to greet friends along the way, Nick, Sara, Grissom, David, Doc. Robbins, Warrick and their respective spouses had all found their places. Doc. Robbins and Tina sat side by side, discussing one of the latest medical journal entries on muscular dystrophy. Nick and Sara were talking intently, their heads leaning close together. Everyone looked up to see the trio arrive.

"Sorry we're late guys," Catherine began, "somebody," she motioned to Stephanie, "had some trouble leaving the house."

"It's not my fault I couldn't decide which shoes went with this tie." Greg exclaimed, this was followed by bursts of laughter.

"Don't worry," Doc. Robbins' wife, Diane, said, "I admire you getting out of the house this early. I couldn't leave without our son until he was a year and a half. Heck, I didn't leave him with Al till he was a the very least a year."

Stephanie laughed; feeling a little more relaxed at the realization that everyone else had had the same fears that she did.

An hour or two after dinner Greg could tell that Stephanie was eager to get home. They had already arranged that Greg would drive Lindsay to Catherine's once Stephanie was home with Isabella. So after one final dance Stephanie and Greg decided to head for home.

A half an hour later Stephanie and Greg pulled into the driveway of their house. Surprisingly enough none of the lights had been left on. Upon seeing the worried look on Stephanie's face, Greg tried to reason, "maybe she was watching a movie or something?"

This didn't do much to calm Stephanie's nerves, she was just eager to get inside and check on Isabella.

Climbing up the front steps Stephanie hurried ahead of Greg, sensing something was wrong. She put her key in the lock only to find that the door was unlocked, Stephanie panicked. Rushing into the house she saw no sign of Lindsay.

"Greg you find Lindsay, I'm going to go check on Bella." Stephanie instructed.

"Okay," Greg said before Stephanie hurried up the stairs on the way to the nursery. Greg peered into the living room, a bowl of popcorn sat on the table but the television was turned off. Greg made his way to the kitchen, there was an empty bottle next to the sink and Isabella's toys were neatly put away. He made his way downstairs to see if she was possibly down there. He flicked the light switch to shed some light on the basement stairs, the light didn't come on. Maybe the power had gone out, he thought, she could be downstairs trying to find the fuse box.

"Greg," Stephanie called down the stairs, "the powers out." She sounded worried. Climbing up the rest of the stairs she kicked off her shoes at the top. Quickly she hurried into Isabella's room and over to her crib. From that point on, everything seemed to blend.

Lying in Isabella's crib was not Isabella, but a note. It read:

_An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. You took my life, I took your daughter. _

Stephanie dropped the note instantly and ran down the stairs to find Greg. Before she reached the bottom step she head Greg calling her name. Stephanie flew down the basement stairs, terrified of what she might find at the bottom.

Greg was crouched down in a corner of the basement, working furiously at something. "Greg," Stephanie began, "What are you-?"

Greg cut her off, "its Lindsay, something's happened." He said grimly.

"Greg," she said again, this time she had his attention, "Isabella's gone."

Greg stopped what he doing immediately and turned to face Stephanie. As he turned she saw what it was behind him. Lindsay was crouched in the corner, her hands and feet tied behind her back. A scarf shoved in her mouth. "Oh my god! Lindsay!" She screamed, rushing over to untie her.

Once Lindsay had been untied Stephanie and Greg helped her upstairs. Stephanie sat her down on the couch and got her a glass of water while Greg went into the kitchen to call Catherine.

"Lindsay," Stephanie said, sitting down beside the young girl, "this is very important, I need you to tell me exactly what happened."

Lindsay took a moment to catch her breath, up until this point she had been sobbing frantically. "I put Isabella to bed a six thirty, after that I went downstairs to watch a movie. I made some popcorn and was about to turn on TV when the power went out. I took the baby monitor with me downstairs to go flip the switches. Then someone grabbed me from behind and tied me up. I tried to call for help but no one could hear me. I'm so sorry," at this point Lindsay broke down to tears. Wiping her eyes she asked, "is Isabella okay?"

Stephanie looked at the young girl, sitting next to her on the couch sobbing. She couldn't even begin to relate to what she must be going through. "We don't know." Was all she could manage to say.

"I'm so sorry Stephanie, I shouldn't have gone downstairs. I should have just called the neighbors."

"No, Lindsay, you did nothing wrong. You have to understand, this wasn't your fault. There's nothing you could have done, okay?" Stephanie asked.

"Okay," Lindsay said through her tears. Stephanie took Lindsay in her arms. Just then Greg came into the room.

"Linds," he said tentatively. "I just talked to your mum; she's on her way with Grissom."

"Okay," Lindsay said softly.

Fifteen minutes later Stephanie heard sirens pull up outside the house. The entire team had arrived. Catherine was the first to reach the door, followed closely by Grissom and Brass. Lindsay leapt off the couch when she saw Catherine at the door.

Within the next hour Stephanie, Greg and Lindsay had given all the information they had to Brass, Grissom and a few more officers. Isabella's picture had been released to the press and an Amber Alert had been issued. Warrick had rushed the note to the lab for analyzing. Stephanie felt just like she had after she and her sister had been kidnapped. She was functioning purely on adrenaline; the whole effect of the situation hadn't sunk in on her. All she could do was answer the next question and get through the night.

Stephanie sat on the deck alone, staring off into the darkness of the backyard. As she stared out into the darkness, she imagined that her Bella was out there somewhere in that same darkness. Catherine had taken Lindsay to her mother's while Sara, Nick and Grissom were processing the house. Greg was going over information with Brass and Warrick was at the lab running tests on the note. Greg came and sat down beside Stephanie, putting a protective arm around her shoulder. Immediately Stephanie snapped out of her trance, turning into Greg's arm. Upon seeing the look on his face Stephanie collapsed into tears, it all hit her at once. The effect of it all hit her like a train hits a brick wall. Isabella was gone, alone and afraid. A few moments later Grissom came out onto the deck, placing a hand on Greg's shoulder.

"Greg," he began, "how much milk did you leave in the fridge for Bella?"

Stephanie turned to Grissom immediately, "eight bottles, Lindsay used one for her bed time, so there should be seven in there. Why?"

"There's no milk in the fridge." He said, "this could mean that whoever took Isabella means to take care of her."

Stephanie took a minute for this new information to sink in. She leapt up off the deck chair and into the house; Grissom and Greg followed her into the kitchen.

"I always keep a few containers of formula on hand, I don't like using it for Bella but just incase of emergency." She flung open the door to the cupboard, going immediately for the second shelf from the top. There was no formula.

Just as Stephanie turned to tell Grissom that the formula was gone the doorbell rang for what felt like the millionth time that night. "That'd be the scent dogs," Grissom said grimly. "We're going to need something with Isabella's scent on it."

Stephanie nodded, halfway up the stairs by the time Grissom had finished, "I know, I've done this before." She called done, switching back into the emotionless, business façade that would remain for the rest of the night.


	15. Chapter 15

Ch.15

For the next few hours Stephanie and Greg tried to help out as much as they could. Stephanie continued to function, pushing all her emotions down to her core. As she stood at the counter, watching the coffee drip into the pot she glanced at the clock on the microwave, it was 2:30. As she turned back to the coffee she caught a glimpse of Greg sitting on the deck, his head in his hands. She knew it must be killing him to not be able to do anything. Like her, when he was nervous or edgy he would bury himself in his work. But now that his work, like his daughter, had been ripped from his grasp he had nothing to hide in.

Grissom saw the worried look on Stephanie's face as she watched Greg out on the deck. She jumped as he laid a gentle hand on her shoulder, "don't worry. I know that sounds impossible right now, but it'll help. I'll talk to him okay?"

Stephanie nodded numbly as Grissom set off to where Greg sat on the deck. When Greg heard foot steps he turned to see Grissom standing behind him. "Mind if I join you?" He asked cautiously.

Greg nodded his head. "Why? Why does this happen? It doesn't make sense, two years ago Stephanie was kidnapped and almost murdered, I was poisoned, and now someone's taken our Bella. What did she ever do to deserve this; she's a baby for Christ's sake!"

Grissom looked at the younger man's face, it was the first time that he had seen Greg this worried since Stephanie had been kidnapped. "Greg, you have to understand," he began, "in this job you're exposed to humanity at its worst everyday. The happy endings that do exist rarely end up on our desks. Unfortunately, with this job, and all its exposures comes hazards. When we're exposed to the worst humanity has to offer, sometimes we put them away but sometimes they slip out of our grasp. Either way, they know who we are, we put ourselves out there and can't expect to be surprised when someone comes looking for revenge. It's only expected that with you and Stephanie together, that you'd have double the chance. It's unfair but it's a part of life. Now, we saw it with Nick; it is possible something similar could have happened here. Warrick is back at the lab waiting for results on the note and I've told him to check both your files to see who's been recently released or may have a grudge against you."

Greg looked up at Grissom, who was sitting beside him on a deck chair. "Anyone who got locked up based on our evidence would have grudges against us. Who exactly would that eliminate?"

"For now Greg, that's all we have to go on." At that moment Brass appeared one the other side of the screen door.

"Grissom, Greg, we got a phone call. Steph's taking it in the kitchen. Archie gave us the go-ahead; we're trying to pick up a trace."

Greg pushed past the two men and into the kitchen where Stephanie was pacing the room, clutching the phone as if her very life depended on it. "Yes," she said desperately, "we'll do anything, we just want her safe at home again." She paused, looking to Brass for the next step.

"Just keep him talking, we've almost got a location." Brass nodded to her.

Greg quickly moved for his wife, taking her free hand in his. Trying desperately to hear what was being said on the other end of the line. "Okay," Stephanie said, searching silently for a pen and paper. Grissom, knowing the script for these kinds of situations had both at hand, slid them along the counter to where Stephanie was pacing. On the paper she scribbled: _4:00; parking lot behind the Tangiers_; pausing before she wrote: $_2, 000, 000. _She looked up at Brass before continuing.

"Keep going, we're almost there, just a few more minutes. Ask to talk to her," he suggested.

Stephanie nodded as a single tear streamed down her cheek. "Please, can I just talk to her," she pleaded with whoever was on the other end of the line. Everyone in the house had gathered around the kitchen to hear what was going on. Greg pushed his ear up to the other side of the phone, desperate for some clue that his baby was alright. "Bella baby," Stephanie cooed into the phone, quickly dissolving to tears. "Bella its mommy, you're gonna be okay, don't you worry." Just as Stephanie thought she heard Bella's voice it was replaced by a clearly audible, male's voice.

"Alright Sanders you've had enough. You know what I want, remember no cops!" The voice said gruffly. Immediately afterwards the line went dead.

"No!" Stephanie cried, Greg wrapped his arms around her as she dissolved, dropping the phone to the hardwood floor with a crash.

"It's okay," Brass called, covering the mouth piece of his cell phone with his hand, "we've got a location, the parking lot at the Tangiers."

A small portion of the tension in the room seemed to dissipate. Only to be replaced with the next fear, the money. As an eerie quite seemed to settle over the room, Catherine walked through the front door. Making her way immediately for the kitchen, which appeared to be the epicenter of the evening's dramatic events. With one look at Stephanie and Greg and the phone on the floor she knew what had just happened. She'd covered enough kidnappings to know the script, after the note came the money. No parent in their right mind would admit that they couldn't pay the price of their child's life, but in reality, few could.

Catherine fell into step with Grissom who was climbing the stairs to the nursery. "I know Steph and Greg don't have the money, but I know they'd do anything for Bella. I can get the money from Sam."

Grissom stopped immediately, "Catherine, you did this with Nick. We can't keep using Sam as our escape plan, the public only will become more suspicious of the lab's involvement with Sam then they already are."

Catherine stared in disbelief at Grissom, "despite our gut instincts, we've yet to prove Sam guilty of anything. Are you seriously saying that you would sacrifice their little girl for the lab's reputation?" With that she motioned to a distraught Stephanie and Greg in the kitchen. With a look of disgust she added, "who are you, Eckley?" With that she turned on her heel and made her way out of the house to her car. Despite her quick exit no one would second guess where she was headed.

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**A/N: Hope you all liked the latest plot twist, I'll try to update soon. Remember, the more you review the faster I'll update, cruel but true, lol. **


	16. Chapter 16

Ch.16

Catherine returned to the house an hour later, less than half an hour before the drop off time. She'd called Grissom on her way back from Sam's to tell him she'd gotten the money. He didn't like it, but there was nothing he could do, she'd already gotten the money. She entered the house silently to see Brass inserting a tiny wire into Greg's jacket.Catherine laid the duffel bag on the counter.

"Two mill," she said. Instantly, her mind grabbed at memories from the night of Nick's kidnapping that she'd long since buried. She turned to see Stephanie sitting on the couch, still in her evening gown from earlier that night. She sat down beside her, turning to see her tear streaked face. "It's going to be okay. If it's just about the money she'll be back with you in the next hour or so." Catherine laid an arm around Stephanie's shoulders, trying desperately to believe what she was saying. Most kidnapping cases were just about the money, and would go a lot smoother if the parents played by the kidnapper's rules. In the rare case that it wasn't about the money, the chances of seeing the child again were slim. While she had utmost faith in everyone working the case, there were some things that no one can prevent.

"What if it's not about the money?" Stephanie asked the question that no one dared say aloud.

Before Catherine could answer Greg came and knelt down in front of Stephanie. Taking her hand in his,he said, "I'm going to go now, okay?"

Stephanie gripped his hand as she nodded silently. "I'll bring her home safe I promise." He tried in vain to reassure her, taking her other hand in his, bringing her to her feet. He embraced her tightly, "It's going to be okay. It has to be." He whispered as tears began to stream down his face.

Stephanie looked up at Greg, wiping the tears from his face as they streamed down her own. "You can't cry," she joked, "that's my job." Stephanie unwound her arms from his neck as she undid the clasp of the gold chain that hung around her neck. Carefully, she placed the chain around Greg's neck.

Greg fingered the tiny fish that now hung around his neck, looking at her quizzically. "You need it more than I do right now." She said through her tears. "Be safe, okay." Greg nodded, kissing her cheek tenderly before he left.

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Greg parked his Denali in the parking lot behind the Tangiers. The parking lot was empty except for a black 1964 Chevy Impala, parked towards the back of the otherwise empty lot. Greg went round to the back of his car a pulled out the duffel bag, feeling the weight of the money strain his arm. Following Brass' instructions he made his way towards the black car. When he got within ten feet of the car a short, portly figure got out of the driver's side.

"Got the money?" The nameless figure called out, not leaving the side of the car.

Greg panicked, trying to remember what he had to do. "I want to see Isabella first, then you can have the money.

"Put the money down," the figure said plainly. Greg didn't flinch, this time the figure repeated himself, much louder. "I said, put the money down! Or I shot you and your damn daughter!"

Obediently, Greg laid the bag on the ground. All the while keeping an eye on the figure. The figure leaned into the car, as if to remove what Greg prayed to be Isabella. Instead the figure slammed the door to the car shut, the engine already running. The figure gunned the engine, the car headed straight for Greg where he stood.

Greg froze, shocked. Mere inches from Greg the car veered to the left, the driver tossed a large brown envelope from the car before hightailing out of the parking lot.

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**A/N: Sorry,'bout the cliff hanger there, I hope you all liked it anyways. Same as always, the more reviews the faster the update. **


	17. Chapter 17

Ch.17

Stephanie paced the kitchen impatiently. She knew that Greg would phone as soon as anything happened, he'd promised, but that did little to calm her nerves. The drop off was set for 4am, it was now 4:30, he should have phoned by now. Stephanie jumped as Catherine laid a gentle hand on her back, "Steph, go change, you need the break."

Stephanie looked down at the evening gown she was still wearing. "Okay," she said with an air of defeat. She stood before the cupboard searching for something to wear, but her mind had ceased to function. Eventually she decided on a pair of jeans, and a pink beater. She sat on the bed, looking out the window. A framed picture on Greg's dresser caught her eye; it had been taken at the hospital the day that Isabella was born. She was propped up on the bed with Isabella nestled in her arms, Greg leaning over into the frame as Nick took the picture. Stephanie looked at the three of them, so happy. Nick had managed to catch Greg and Isabella in one of their staring contests, both bearing their identical, goofy grins.

Sighing, she got off the bed and made her way through the room, trying to ignore the playpen in the corner. The house was scattered with baby paraphernalia, which only made this whole ordeal harder. Stephanie bent into the play pen and picked up a small red dog, it was Bella's favorite. The dog had little bells in its ears that jingled when you shook it and buttons for eyes. Tears came to her eyes as she remembered Greg playing with Isabella on the floor, him lying on his back with Bella resting on his chest.

Everywhere she looked she was reminded of Bella. In the hallways she saw her and Greg pacing back and forth trying to lull her to sleep when she'd wake up in the middle of the night with colic. In the bathroom she saw herself bathing Isabella; it was getting too painful to be in the house.

As she got up to leave the room, she put the small plush dog back down into the playpen, her fingers coming to rest on Greg's zip up hoodie. She'd spent most of her pregnancy in the oversized sweater; it was warm, comfortable, and best of all, smelt like Greg. When she wore the sweater it was like having him right there next to her.

When Stephanie got downstairs she made an immediate beeline for the coffee machine. She stood at the counter, newly changed, although her hair and make up remain the same formal style from earlier that evening. As she selected a mug from the cupboard, the phone rang, she answered immediately.

"Hello?" She said shakily.

"Steph, it's me," came Greg's voice on the other end of the phone. From the tone in his voice, she knew he didn't have Bella with him. Then he said the words that everyone had been thinking all night long, "it's not about the money."

Stephanie slumped against the counter, "that can't be, no, no, it can't." Stephanie pleaded, as if it could change the situation if she wanted it enough.

"They took the money and drove off. They left an envelope. I haven't opened it yet, I'm on my way to the lab."

"Okay, I'll be right there." Stephanie answered automatically.

"No," Greg said sternly, "you need to stay here unless they call back. I'll come home as soon as I can," his tone softened. "It'll be okay, I'll call you as soon as I know anything."

"Okay," Stephanie said as she hung up the phone numbly. As she put the phone down everyone had gathered in the kitchen, eager to hear how the drop off had gone. "It's not about the money," she said, "they took the money and all they gave Greg was an envelope. He took it to the lab," by this point Stephanie could barely function. She knew that her time was limited, with kidnappings the first twenty four hours meant everything. After that, Bella's chances dwindled quickly.

* * *

After dropping off the envelope with Warrick, Greg made his way wearily to the locker room. He propped open his locker and flopped down on the bench, exhausted. He looked at his watch, it read 6:00. So far, Bella had been gone for nearly ten hours. Lifting his head up from his hands Greg gazed into his locker. On the door assorted magnets held up a single picture. He smiled, remembering the day that the picture had been taken. It was out at the park down the street from their house, he had taken it when Stephanie was playing with Bella on the swings. The sun caught their chestnut locks and blue eyes perfectly. Stephanie, her hair loose and blowing in the wind, was laughing, her gaze fixated on Bella in her lap. Bella was giggling away, her big blue eyes fixed solely on Greg behind the camera. 


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Well, I supose I've tortured you all sufficiantly long enough. Hope you're all enjoying the latest plot twists and whatnots. As always, please review and enjoy!**

**Spoiler Alert: If you haven't seen the season 3 episode Precious Metal, the ending is given away in this chapter. **

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Ch.18

By eight o'clock that morning Stephanie stood out on the deck with yet another cup of coffee, watching the sun rise. The envelope had held a single sheet of paper, it read:

_I made you what you are; it's time to pay up. Better hurry, it's getting cold out there. Let's see how good of a detective you are now that your daughter's gone. _

The note had been processed and the only thing that had been found were trace amounts of sulpher, which could mean anything. Greg sat at the picnic table pouring over the paper copy of his file, reports were scattered across the table. "Sulpher right?" he asked no one in particular.

"Sulpher, on both notes," Stephanie said as she sat down beside Greg, peering over his file. The paper before him was dated April 3, 2003. The vic's name was Keith Mercer, as Stephanie looked over the case before them she saw that Mercer was killed by a coin dealer, Jones, apparently a deal had gone bad and Mercer took the brunt of it. Stephanie looked at Greg questioningly, "what does this have to do with Bella?"

Greg ran a hand through his hair, "it was my first case out in the field. I was the one who put this guy away. After that, Grissom offered me a job in the field." Greg sighed heavily, "it says here that Jones got out last month."

"I'll go tell Grissom we've got a lead." Greg said as he got up, heading towards the kitchen.

By the time he was in the kitchen Greg felt the most elated he had all night. "Grissom," he called, "we got something!" He explained their lead to Grissom, who, like the workaholic he was remembered the case vividly.

Seven years ago Grissom had been working a case where a newlywed had been murdered by a coin dealer, Jones, when he realized that the coins that he'd bought were fakes and threatened to go to the police. When Grissom found out that Greg had a coin collection he had Greg go feel out the Jones' shop to see if the coins were fakes. Greg found that the coins were counterfeit and thanks to him Jones was sent to jail. Somehow, Jones got out last month, and now he was the perfect suspect.

Brass, who was listening in the corner, got on his cell phone immediately. "I need a background check on Dan Jones, released last month. I want current residence, place of work, everything there is about this guy, ASAP." Brass hung up his cell phone purposely.

A few minutes later the fax machine in the kitchen went off, it printed out Jones' wrap sheet. Brass was the first to reach the beeping and buzzing machine, picking up the paper he read aloud, "Dan Jones, currently residing in North Vegas, last known work address is the old coin shop." Adding with an after thought, "that place's been boarded up for years."

Greg leapt up, "that's it, that's our guy."

Grissom pondered this for a moment, the tension in the room hung thick like syrup. "Greg, we can't jump to conclusions."

"I don't care about conclusions! This guy might have our Bella!" Greg called out, halfway out the door.

Stephanie, Brass and Grissom were close on his heels. They climbed into Brass' unmarked car and sped out of the drive way, Brass turning on the lights and sirens as he drove.

* * *

**A/N II: Oops, guess there's another cliff hanger again. If I get lots of reviews I promise I'll update soon. I've got the next few day's off so I'll try to update a little bit faster. Toodles. **


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Well, my exams are finally over! So I have tons of free time on my hands, and I promise there will be lots of updates in the near future. So please review and let me know what you think. **

* * *

Ch.19

Stephanie's grip on Greg's hand tightened as the abandoned coin shop came into view. The doors and windows were covered in boards which in turn were covered in multiple layers of indecipherable graffiti. Brass pulled the car right outside the front door of the abandoned shop. Greg leapt out of the car, followed closely by Stephanie. Brass and Grissom drew their guns. Brass kicked down the door and proceeded to clear the shop. "Clear!" He yelled back to the trio waiting impatiently outside, they hurried in as Brass reached for his radio to call for backup.

"Over here!" Grissom called out to the rest, "there's a door, looks like it leads to a basement!" Grissom hastily pulled open the door.

Stephanie and Greg ran through the open door, leaping down a flight of unfinished, rickety steps. As they ran down the steps, Grissom and Brass followed tightly on their heels. The basement was crowded, full of all sorts of junk. It looked like the sort of place where all the garage sale rejects wind up. It was hard to find your footing amongst all the clutter. Stephanie shuddered, wrapping Greg's sweater around her tightly,as the chill from the underground basement began to take effect. Above ground temperatures were rising to their usual summer heights, unlike the basement. Everyone split up to search different directions of the basement, Stephanie cried out shortly thereafter.

"I found her! Come quick! Somebody call a bus!" She shouted from the far corner of the basement. Greg sprinted over as Stephanie scooped up a motionless Isabella. She quickly checked for a pulse, "now!" She demanded, holding the baby close to her chest as she ran up the stairs.

Once she reached the car she laid Isabella tenderly on the back seat, quickly taking off her sweater and wrapping it around her. She was cold to the touch, they needed that ambulance fast. Stephanie picked up Isabella, wrapped in Greg's sweater, and began rocking her back and forth, trying to wake the unconscious baby. Grissom and Brass exited the shop, Grissom on his cell phone requesting an ambulance.

Greg took Isabella from Stephanie, vigorously rubbing her back, desperate to hear anything. As Greg paced the parking lot with Isabella pressed to his chest they heard sirens in the distance. As the ambulance pulled into the parking lot Isabella let out a small cry. Stephanie leapt from the back seat of the open car to where Greg was standing; she took Isabella from Greg's arms. "Shhh, baby, hush. Mommy's here, it's gonna be okay." She cooed through the tears forming in her eyes. Greg placed a hand on Stephanie's lower back, stroking Isabella's hair as he did so. Stephanie bounced Isabella lightly, trying to keep her conscious.

While all this was going on an EMT leapt out of the ambulance and took Isabella from Stephanie's arms. Both Stephanie and Greg got into the ambulance immediately behind Isabella. As they strapped Isabella in for the ride Stephanie stroked her hair, "I promise, I'll never let anything bad happen again. I'll never leave you again baby, never."


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Hi everyone, sorry I ment to update sooner but I got pretty sucked into tonight's new episode of CSI. Anyways, I'll try to update tomorrow morning, so until then enjoy and please review!**

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Ch. 20

Stephanie shook the loose bun out of her straightened hair as dark brown locks fell to frame her face. She ran her hands through her hair, slowly bringing herself back to reality. She looked up to see the hospital's ER waiting room come into view. Eventually her focus returned to the chart in her lap. At two months old, Bella didn't have a large medical history, but nevertheless all the necessary paperwork had to be filled out. In the end, stress won out and Stephanie returned to her thoughts, which were interrupted as Greg returned with two styrofoam cups of coffee.

"Here," he said in a hushed voice, "this'll help."

Gratefully, Stephanie took one of the cups and held it up to her lips, breathing in the warm aroma. Moments later she spoke up, "how could someone do that?" She asked, turning to Greg, "just leave her there like that?"

Greg knelt down in front of her and pushed the hair back from her face, stroking her cheek with the tips of his fingers. His lips pursed together, forming a thin line as he paused before speaking, "it's all over now, okay? She's going to be fine, she'll be home soon."

Stephanie crumpled into his arms, unable to speak. She couldn't believe it was almost over. What had in fact taken less than twenty four hours had felt like a lifetime. "Shh," Greg whispered softly as he stroked her hair, "it's going to be okay." Silently, Greg took the chart from Stephanie's lap and began to fill out the paperwork before him.

The hours went by like the last days of school before summer vacation. With a joint effort Stephanie and Greg eventually finished the paperwork on Bella. Stephanie stifled a yawn as she laid her head on Greg's shoulder, fighting off the urge to sleep. Nuzzling into his sweater Stephanie closed her eyes for just a minute, snapping them open a few moments later, willing herself to stay awake. She would kill herself if something happened while she was sleeping.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity a middle aged doctor with graying hair came out to the waiting room to where Stephanie and Greg were sitting. "Mr. and Mrs. Sanders?" He asked.

"Yes," Stephanie and Greg said in unison, eager for any news regarding their daughter.

"Your daughter is currently in NICU, although it is just a precaution. It looks as if she's going to make a full recovery."

"Can we see her now?" Stephanie asked impatiently.

"Yes, right this way." The doctor said with a turn, "we will want to keep her for the next few days," he said as he continued down the hallway. Stephanie gripped Greg's hand, excited to see Isabella again.

As they stepped out of the elevator, the doctor pointed them in the direction of the nursery. Immediately Stephanie and Greg laid eyes on Bella and took off ahead of the doctor. Greg was the first to reach the bassinet where Bella lay asleep; he gently lifted the sleeping baby out of the crib and into his arms. Simultaneously, her eyes fluttered open, she didn't cry, but instead nestled into Greg's shoulder with a sigh. Stephanie stroked her hair as Bella settled in to sleep against Greg's chest, lazily Bella curled her tiny fingers around Stephanie's pinkie. Tears streamed down Stephanie's face as she was finally reunited with her daughter.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Hi everyone. Once again, I'm updating later than I had planned. My friends kidnapped me today so I've been away from my computer for a good twelve hours. (It's amazing I've survived). Anyways, please review and enjoy!**

* * *

Ch.21

Stephanie tossed and turned restlessly, only to whip off the covers moments later and make her way to the nursery. It was the first night since Isabella's return home from the hospital. Despite the fact that she'd been up six times already to check on her, Stephanie couldn't clear her mind of the thoughts that danced about as she tried to sleep. Shivering, as her bare feet touched down to the hardwood floor she grabbed the terrycloth robe that hung on the back of the door. Wrapping it around herself, but not bothering to tie it up, she made her way to the nursery. Only to find Greg standing over the crib, one hand behind his head, his eyes bleary with sleep.

"Hey," she said softly as she stood behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

Slowly he turned around, pulling her in closer and kissing the top of her head lightly. "Couldn't sleep?" He asked groggily.

"Nah," she whispered, looking down at Isabella's sleeping form. "I just needed to come and check on her."

Greg ran his warm hands insider her robe and over her back. "How about, in the morning,we move her crib into our room for the next few nights?" Stephanie nodded, realizing how exhausted she was, as she laid her head down on his shoulder, sighing deeply.

* * *

Brass sat at his desk reviewing Jones' file. Not surprisingly, it was both one of the easiest and hardest to go through. With such a small record, there wasn't much to cloud the solid facts that Brass was looking for. While this made somethings easier, it also made it harder to find these facts. As Brass lifted a mug of coffee to his mouth his cell phone went off, "Brass," he answered. 

"Jim, its Gil," came the voice on the other end, "have you got anything on Jones yet?"

"I just pulled something off of his visitation records; you're going to want to see this for yourself."

Upon arriving at the police station Grissom found Jim Brass sitting at a dark wood toppeddesk surrounded by files.

"These," Brass began purposefully, "are Dan Jones' prison visitation records. It shows here that his wife, now ex-wife, visited him twice in the entire time he was in there. Up until two years ago he had no other visitors,enter Mark Good. I ran a background check on Mark Good, no criminal record, but I was able to pull info off of some media releases. _Mark Good, age 20, originally from Vancouver, Canada_," Brass read off a piece of paper before him. "_Began acting at an early age, will be premiering in the sure to be Broadway hit **Like Affirmative** this summer. Good_," Brass read, "_is pictured here_, _with best friends Jules Potente_, and get this, _Stephanie O'Neil_."

Grissom grabbed the newspaper print-out from Brass' hand, putting on his glasses to get a better view. The picture accompanying a page long article of Broadway's latest up and comer was a glamorous red carpet shot of a young male and female, and surprisingly a much younger Stephanie. "How long ago was this published?" Grissom asked.

Brass stated simply, "ten years ago."

"Look at the way he's holding her hand, standing in front of her, as if protecting her from something." Grissom observed. In the picture Stephanie, who couldn't have been more than eighteen, in an elegant black, mid-calf length halter gown which flared out dramatically at the waist, was standing next to a tall, gangly young man with curly hair. He had one arm around her waist and had one of her hands clasped in the other, the other girl, who Grissom recognized from the wedding, stood awkwardly off to the side.

"There's more," Brass said solemnly, "I did some further digging on Mark Good, apparently, after hitting it big on Broadway bought some property in the Las Vegas area about two years ago."

"Let me guess," Grissom said blatantly, "Jones' Coin Shop."

"You guessed correctly, Mark Good purchased the land a month after making his first visit to everyone's favorite coin dealer, Dan Jones. Since then, he visited Jones at least once a week until Jones' release."

"Let me get this straight," Grissom began, removing his glasses, "Mark Good, a close friend of Stephanie, buys property from Jones. Two years later Isabella is kidnapped and found in the basement of the coin shop, currently owned by Good."

"Correct." Jim said.

"Have you been able to contact Mr. Good?" Grissom asked, although in these cases the answer was almost always the same.

Brass held up another sheet of paper and began to read off of it, "While Mr. Good is unavailable for questioning on this matter; he offers his support to the family of the baby and hopes that she will make a full recovery."

"That's a little detached for a best friend." Grissom commented.

"That was when I called Miss. Potente, the next best friend to Mr. Good. Miss. Potente was a bridesmaid at Stephanie and Greg's wedding, so she was still in shock over recent events. According to Miss. Potente there was a disturbance in the tight knit group when Stephanie moved out here. Apparently Stephanie, Potente and Good were best friends in high school, after graduation Potente and Good moved to New York, Stephanie was supposed to go with them to study costume design but instead decided to stay at home and study criminology. Now here's where things start to get tricky, Potente had serious feelings for Good, while Good only had eyes for Stephanie. So as you can imagine, there was some turmoil when Stephanie broke the news that she would not be going to New York, right around the same time that Good made his feelings for Stephanie known. Now, keeping in mind that this is Potente's version, when they reached New York Potente and Good moved in together, as friends. All was well until the day two years ago when Good made a trip to Vegas.While in Vegas Good ran into Stephanie and Greg, their relationship blooming into young love at this point. Apparently Good was still holding on to the hope that Stephanie would one day come back to him. When the fateful day of their wedding came, Good claimed that he could not attend the ceremony because of rehearsal dates. I looked into it, Good was out of work from June through to September, as you remember, the wedding was in July."

"I think we need to have a little chat with Mr. Good."


	22. Chapter 22

Ch. 22

Mark Good stepped through the doors of the Las Vegas police station. A cool burst of air providing a source of relief from the summer heat that was bursting down on him, even in the late hours of the day. He was not in a good mood to begin with, after finally landing a major role in a feature film, he was called out of production to fly half way across the country because some nobody from his high school almost lost her baby.

As he stepped up to the reception desk he removed his dark sunglasses, tossing his curly hair and flashing his signature smile to the receptionist. "Hi there," he said, "I'm here to see a Captain Brass."

"Mr. Good," a short, middle aged man said as he made his way down the halls towards him. "Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to come assist us in our investigation," he held out his hand, smiling with false warmth.

Mark ignored Brass' outstretched hand. "Let's just want to getit over with, production's being held up for this."

Brass led the disgruntled actor to an interrogation room. Knowing the type, he decided to play good cop rather than bad. "Can I get you anything Mr. Good?" He asked in a sickeningly sweet tone. Mark only shook his head. "Well, let's get this started then. How well did you know Stephanie O'Neil?"

"We were friends in high school, after graduation we went out separate ways." Mark said simply.

"Were you aware of her recent marriage to Greg Sanders?" Brass asked, testing the waters.

"I heard she married some science nerd a few years back; I thought I was here cause of some baby?" Mark snapped, his voice attempting to mask undertones of resentment with curtness.

"We'll get to that," Brass quipped. "At the time of the wedding you were living with Jules Potente, correct?" Mark nodded. "I have here a wedding invitation with both your names on it," Brass laid an invitation out on the steel topped table.

"Hey!" Mark exclaimed, standing up abruptly. "Where'd you get that? That's private property!"

"On the contrary, Miss. Potente sent it over. Apparently the three of you were still quite close, she was willing to do anything to help with our investigation." This seemed to quiet the actor as he sat down upon Brass' explanation. "Now Mr. Good, can you please describe your relationship with Mrs. Sanders?"

"Mrs. Who?" He asked with a sneer.

"I believe you knew her as Stephanie O'Neil."

Mark smiled sinisterly. "Stephi and I were friends in high school, supposed to move to New York together after graduation. She changed career paths and stayed home, while Jules and I went to New York without her. Last I heard was that invitation."

"I talked to Miss. Potente last week, and apparently your relationship with Mrs. Sanders, previous to her marriage,was a little more involved than that." Mark's face fell. "Care to explain?"

Realizing he was cornered Mark sighed, "All through high school, I had to watchwhile she dated losers who didn't care about her like I did! Do you realize she broke up with the same guy four times in one summer? He treated her like a damn yoyo. She could never see me that way; I wasn't even eligible to her, nothing but a consultant. Do you know what its like to watch the one girl you've ever loved go back and forth with the same losers, never giving you a second glance?"

Brass took his chance, "is that how you justified kidnapping her daughter?"

"What?" Mark exclaimed, "you think I had something to do with that? I didn't even know she had a daughter until you people dragged me out here."

"According to Miss. Potente," Brass began coolly, "You ended all communications withMrs. Sandersshortly before her wedding." Brass couldn't help but notice Mark flinch every time he referred to Stephanie as 'Mrs. Sanders.'

"We went our separate ways," Mark looked down at his shoes, "she was moving on with her life and I didn't fit into a single part of it."

"Also according to Miss. Potente, you and her two tried it out for a few months, but it didn't work out due to lack of interest on your part. Apparently, you had eyes for someone else. Mrs. Sanders, I presume?"

Pausing for a moment, Mark eventually continued. "Jules and I dated for about a month, she broke it off a week before Stephanie's wedding."

Brass gave the clearly distressed Mark a moment before heading in for the kill, "how did you know Dan Jones?"

"Who?" Mark asked blankly.

"Dan Jones, former owner of Jones Coin Shop. The coin shop which sits on the land you bought just over a year ago. The same coin shop where Mr. and Mrs. Sanders' baby was found. The same Dan Jones that you visited once a week for two years until his release-"

"Okay!" Mark interrupted. "Yeah, so I visited him, is it illegal to visit people now?"

"No, but it is illegal to help conspire a kidnapping." Brass stated matter of factly. "What was your relationship with Dan Jones?"

Mark sighed, "why should I tell you?"

Brass was stunned, "what can I get you? I don't think you understand what's going on here Mr. Good. A two month old baby was kidnapped, and abandoned in the basement of a vacant lot property. You're one of the only people who made contact with our main suspect, and you expect a reason to tell me what you know?"

"I know what you need, but I have a reputation, a career to protect."

"Don't we all," Brass sighed sarcastically.

"Okay," Mark began, revealing what a pushover he really was "when my dad died two years back he left me a coin collection, but he left it with Dan. My dad was a gambler and worked off his debt to Dan by giving him his coin collection so long that whatever was left when he died was given back to me. Apparently what little was left of it was worth some money so I came out here to pick it up. We got to talking, and well, I never really knew my dad real well. So we well, you know, really bonded. He was lonely cause his wife left him once he got locked up and he was friends with my dad back in the day so I told him I'd visit him. And I did."

"Okay Mr. Good, here's what I think happened. You meet Dan Jones, maybehe owed your dad a favor or was just thankful for the visits, whatever it was; he decided to help you clear up some of your problems. You got Jones to kidnap the Sanders' baby girl, hoping that without a baby in the picture, maybe Mrs. Sanders would leave Mr. Sanders and come crying back to you. Tell me, any of this ring a bell?"

Mark slammed his fists against the table, "I want my lawyer!" He demanded.

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**A/N: Okay, pretty pretty pleasewith lots of cherries on top review andlet me know what you think. If it's getting too confusing please let me know and I'll add another chapter to clarify things before they get more complicated (trust me, they will!). **


	23. Chapter 23

Ch.23

Stephanie sat awkwardly in a metal chair of the police stations lobby. Greg came in the door brandishing a soother in one hand and a set of car keys in the other.

"Who's the best dad in the world?" Greg asked jokingly.

"Gee, I always thought that Nick would make a good dad," Stephanie teased.

"Very funny," Greg replied as he gave a slightly fussy Bella her soother. Stephanie smoothed down the blanket in Isabella's carrier, eventually she began to settle down after becoming distracted with Greg's keys.

"Well if this isn't a Kodak moment, I don't know what is." Brass said with a smile. Motioning to Greg and Stephanie doting on Isabella as if their very lives depended on it. "This way," Brass led them down the hall to his office. It had been a day since Mark Good's visit and he was currently staying at the Tangiers.

Once they'd reached his office Brass motioned for Stephanie and Greg to take a seat. Greg put the carrier on the floor and gently removed Isabella and propped her up in his lap. Brass took a deep breath before beginning. "Stephanie, do you remember a Mark Good?"

A smile parted Stephanie's full lips, though it soon fell as she began to piece together what was about to happen. "Yes," she stammered, "we were best friends through high school. He always had a thing for me, but I never really saw him that way, anyways, I couldn't do that to Jules. She'd loved him since the first grade," Stephanie smiled as she reminisced. "He lives in New York now. You don't think he had something to do with Bella's kidnapping do you?"

Brass' facial expression remained stiff as he spoke, "we believe he may have played a role in your daughters kidnapping. He owns the property on which she was found, he's also been in Vegas periodically for the past two years."

"Two years?" Stephanie exclaimed. "How could he have been in town and never called?"

"He was visiting Dan Jones at county lockup." Brass stated. "We believe that he may have conspired with Jones in the kidnapping."

Stephanie's hand flew to her mouth, "my god," she uttered. It was several moments before she was able to compose herself, "he always had such jealous streak. When James and I first started dating back in highschoolwe had to keep it a secret, when he found out he didn't talk to either of us for months. He tried so many times to break us up, he even spread rumors that James was cheating on me. I can't imagine him going that far to break Greg and I up. I mean, we're married, not going steady." Her hand regained its place in front of her lips.

"We're not ruling anything out yet," Brass reasoned, not wanting to start any fires. "What can you tell me about your recent history with Mark?"

Stephanie sighed, "jeez, it all ended so bad." She ran a hand through her hair. "About a month before the wedding he called to say he couldn't make it, that the production company of his latest play told him that if he left that he'd be giving up his role. I talked to Jules at the wedding, apparently he'd been out of work for the past few months leading up to the wedding. After we got back from the honeymoon I confronted Mark, he started yelling. Saying that I was self centered, conceited, real nasty stuff. He said things I'd really rather not repeat. Eventually I hung up on him. I mean honestly, here I was, pregnant, and he starts tearing in on me. It just wasn't the Mark I went to school with. Something changed," Stephanie rambled off.

* * *

Mark Good rapped his fingers on the receptionist's desk. "Will Capt. Brass being seeing _anyone_ today?" He asked impatiently, his voice dripping with sarcasm. The receptionist pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, clearing her throat. Due to the man's mannerisms, she didn't really feel like going the extra mile for him. "Never mind," he huffed, puffing up his chest to appear more important than his truly mediocre self. "I'll find him myself." 

"Mr. Good!" The receptionist called back after him, "you can't go down there!" She got up out of her desk chair, but the he was too far gone.

Mark finally came to a door with a name plate next to the frame reading _Capt. J Brass_. Despite the closed door and drawn blinds over the window Mark went right ahead and burst through the door.

* * *

The door behind her swung open as Stephanie and Greg turned to see who had interrupted their meeting. Stephanie half expected it to be Grissom or another one of the CSIs. Instead, someone she saw someone she hadn't seen since she'd left Canada for Vegas. 

"Mr. Good, we were just talking about you." Brass said, taking everything in stride.

Stephanie turned to Greg, whose protective hold on Isabella tightened instinctively.

"So this is him? This is who you left us, me, for?" Mark asked with disgust.

"Excuse me?" Stephanie asked. "I didn't leave you for anyone. If anything you broke things off with me. What you said, you can't go back on. You crossed a line Mark."

Mark looked blank, she'd obviously stepped on some toes. Nevertheless, she showed no remorse. Brass took this as his cue, before this was brought to blows. Looking from Mark to Stephanie, there was no question that she could take him. "I believe some introductions are in order."

Greg spoke for the first time since entering the office. "I know who he is," he stated firmly. Staring down the newcomer, who hadn't moved from the doorway; Greg broke his stare to look at Stephanie, her fists clench at her sides, her feet spread in a boxing stance. It took a lot to bring Stephanie to her breaking point, though he didn't know quite what had gone on, he knew there must have been some seriously bad blood between the two of them.

Stephanie felt like she was back in high school, sitting in the counselor's office, in trouble for fighting, again. Brass motioned for everyone to regain their seats. Slowly Stephanie sat down as Mark sat across the table from her and Greg, Brass at the head of the table. Greg maintained his protective hold on Isabella as she began to fuss, without breaking eye contact with Mark Stephanie bent down to retrieve Isabella's soother from her carrier.

"There's one thing I want to know, right off." Stephanie began, staring down Mark, "where the hell do you get off kidnapping my daughter? Do you have any idea the hell you put me through? How do you do that to someone you care about? How Mark?"

Slightly taken aback, Mark attempted a semi logical reply. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he began to regain confidence, brushing down the front of his rumpled brown corduroy jacket. He looked like someone who didn't quite get what it meant to co-ordinate outfits, but tried anyways. "I was halfway across the country when this happened, I don't see how you can connect that to me."

"Excuse me!" Stephanie exclaimed, outraged. "The fact that she was found in your basement? So what, you expect me to believe this is just a coincidence? You know I'm not that dumb Mark."

"Why in the hell would I have something to do with your brat getting taken and left in some basement? I bought that property so that Danny would have something to go back to when he got out." Mark stated coolly, taking a long sip from a travel mug of coffee.

"How dare you! This is my baby we're talking about, my flesh and blood! What you said hurt me more than anything else ever has, but I know that you at least still remember what it was like to care about me, so you can imagine how I feel right now." A tear trickled down Stephanie's cheek as Greg leaned over and laid a comforting hand on her arm. He remembered the day that Stephanie and Mark had fought vividly. He'd returned home from the lab to find Stephanie on the phone, crying.

All the yelling had stirred Bella from her peaceful state; she began to wail as Stephanie turned to Greg to take her. Rocking her back and forth gently, Stephanie looked at Mark and held his gaze for a few moments before turning her attention back to Bella.

Brass and Greg exchanged glances, apparently there was more history there than the two could have prepared themselves for. Brass cleared his throat, "I think this meeting is over, Mr. Good, you can expect to hear from me by tomorrow."

With that Mark stood up abruptly, knocking over his chair as he did so. Proceeding to storm out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

After Mark had left, Stephanie prepared Isabella for the car ride home while Greg spoke briefly to Brass.

"Log that into evidence alright?" Greg said motioning to the coffee mug that Mark had left behind on the table top. "Send it to the lab and have them run it against all DNA found at the scene."

"Will do," Brass said as Greg headed out the door with a distraught Stephanie.

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**A/N: I hope this clarifies things a little bit more, I've still got a few more chapters to come based on the history and background information that should clear things up. So please review and give me all your thoughts. I always love to hear from you all, so please review! **


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: Hi everyone! I forgot to thank you all last time for all your reviews! It was so awesome to see how many people actually read this (I have to admit I was shocked:-) ) So please keep the reviews coming, once again things get a bit complicated, so just review and e-scream at me if I'm moving too fast, cause alot of the time what makes sense in my head dosn't make sense on paper. Happy Valentine's Day to everybody! I hope you all fall madly in love with the guy/girl of your dreams tomorrow and live happily ever after and all that fun stuff. So, review, review, review and have an awesome Valentine's Day!**

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Ch.24

Grissom closed his office door behind him, more than ready to head home after a long, arduous shift.

"Leaving so soon?" A familiar voice asked from behind him.

"Do you have a reason for me to stay Jim?" Grissom asked without turning.

"I've got some background info on Good. It turns out our movie star's got quite the history with Stephanie. Shall we pay our good friend Jones a visit?"

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Brass and Grissom entered the interrogation room one directly behind the other. A uniformed officer stood in the corner, as Jones, in his street clothes, sat at the table. His hands folded tightly before him. 

"So we meet again, Mr. Jones." Brass said dryly.

"What do you guys want from me this time? I haven't violated my parole or anything. You can't just arrest me for having a criminal record every time something happens that you can't pin on someone else." Jones had obviously held on to some of the resentment from the years he'd spent in prison thanks to the members of the CSI's night shift.

"I think you know why you're here Mr. Jones," Grissom began. "The daughter of one of the CSIs who put you away was kidnapped and found in the basement of your old coin shop. The same coin shop you sold to Mark Good, the son of a good friend of yours. Prison records," Grissom laid some highlighted prison visitation records out on the table, "indicate that Good visited you frequently during the past two years of your sentence."

Jones picked up the records, scanning them rapidly before tossing them down onto the table. "This doesn't prove anything. I'm allowed to have visitors."

"On the contrary Mr. Jones," Brass cut in."Don't you think it's a bit too much of a coincidence that a month after your release the daughter of the criminalist who put you away is kidnapped and found on the property that you sold to your best friend's son?"

Jones pondered the accusations for a moment, finally, he spoke. "Mr. Brass, Mr. Grissom, I've already been sent to prison. My wife has left me andI've lost my business, what more do I have to lose? If I had anything to do with this, why wouldn't I just come forward?"

"That's just it," Brass alleged, "If you had nothing to lose, what would stop you from say, getting a little revenge?"

Jones finally lost his cool, slamming his fists against that table. "I'm trying to get my life together! You people took everything from me. And now, just as I'm starting to rebuild my life you want to knock it all down again?"

"Only if you're the one behind the kidnapping," Grissom spoke calmly.

"Humor me for a moment, will you Mr. Jones?" Brass began, "Lets just say you meet Mark Good, turns out both your problems work down to one guy. Good wants his girl back, and the same guy who took his girl took your freedom. You both want to get this guy, turns out; working together has its benefits. Good has connections, knows that the Sanders' world revolves around their little girl. If you eliminate the girl, their relationship will quickly fall to pieces, leaving Sanders shattered and the girl with no one to turn to but Good. What do you think of that Mr. Jones?"

"That's outrageous!" Jones exclaimed. "If I really wanted back at Sanders I would have just killed him."

"Really? I don't think so," Grissom pondered. "You suffered in prison, correct?" Jones nodded. "Wouldn't you want the same for Greg Sanders? Death would be too quick, but taking his daughter, that would last. First,he'd have to wait, then they'd find the body. After that his relationship with his wife would dwindle, they'd blame each other, start fighting. Before you knew it, they'd file for divorce. He'd wind up just like you…alone."

Jones froze; the two men couldn't determine whether he was unable or unwilling to process this.

A knock came at the door, breaking the eerie tension that had settled over the room like a thick blanket of fog. Grissom excused himself from the interrogation to answer the door. Opening the door revealed an anxious looking Mia.

"Mia, there is one rule that I must insist upon in this lab, you do not under any circumstance interrupt an interrogation. While I'm notout here instead of in thereMr. Jones could befiguring out his next story, every second in that room is precious and has been calculated to the inth-degree, do you understand?"

Mia nodded, "I understand Grissom but this is something you need to know, now." She said sternly. It wasn't often that anyone saw Mia so serious; she'd managed to take her work seriously, while still keeping in check with her personality. So when she was this solemn about something, Grissom knew it had to be important. "I ran the DNA from Good's coffee cup, it didn't bring up a complete match to any of the samples taken from the scene, but there were enough markers in common to determine that the samples from the scene were a direct relative, XY."

"You mean that Mark Good is either the son or brother of who ever did this?"

Mia nodded, "I just run the tests, you draw the conclusions."

Though it quickly faded, Grissom smiled. "Thank you, Mia." He said stiffly before taking the results back with him into the interrogation room.

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**A/N II: Okay everyone, hit the little purple button in the corner (don't be scared, I promise it doesn't bite!) and let me know what you think. Lots of luv, **

**-la femme de l'abime**


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: Yay! More twists! Thank for all your reviews, I hope you all had great Valentine's day. (I think I ate double my weight in chocolate, just as I had intended!) So please review and let me know what you think! Toodles. **

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Ch.25

Nick sat at the computer, his eyes weary from starring at the screen for over four hours. He was trying to find some background information on relatives of Mark Good. He had no siblings, his father died three years ago and his mother had been entered into a nursing home for dementia patients just this year. While he hadn't been able to find anything on Mark's relatives, he did find some very crucial information. Apparently, in addition to the coin shop property Mark Good also owned a small apartment in North Vegas. Immediately Nick brought this information to Grissom.

"Kind of shabby for our big time actor wouldn't you say?" Nick pointed out.

"Yes," Grissom pondered, "now, do we have any information as to whether or not he actually lived there?"

"I'm on my way there now actually," Nick stated simply. "Vega and I are going to pay him a little visit."

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Vega knocked on the door, his gun drawn. "Mark Good, LVPD. Open up." He declared firmly.

The door opened slowly, Mark Good's scruffy haired head poked its way through the opening. "What can I do for you officers?" He asked in a seemingly innocent tone.

"We're going to need to take a look inside, we have a warrant." Vega held up the court forms for Good to see.

Good opened the door allowing Vega and Nick to step inside. Nick observed his surroundings. There was a smell coming from the apartment that could peel paint, and judging from the interior, it had done just that. The ancient stained wallpaper was beginning to peel, a sunken brown couch sat opposite an old TV playing nothing but static. Looking further in, Nick could see the kitchen. Consisting only of a sink and a hot plate on a grungy counter on which sat multiple mouse traps, Nick could tell that these defiantly weren't the standards of living that Good liked the public to believe that he upheld. "A little far from the Tangiers aren't we Mr. Good?" Nick asked.

"Well, I needed a place to stay until this blows over; the Tangiers was just to high profile." Mark said simply, as if actors regularly stayed in grungy rat infested apartments while they were under police investigation.

"Interesting," Nick merely commented, making his way to the bedroom. In reality the bedroom wasn't much more than a large cupboard with a cot. Nick stepped over a pile of dirty laundry to reach what appeared to be a cupboard door. Opening it he peered cautiously inside. What sat in the cupboard was the kind of thing that you read about in mystery novels, or see in movies about crazed stalkers. He'd never seen anything like this in his life, which in his career, undoubtedly meant something.

From the top there was nothing out of the ordinary, a few jackets, pants and wrinkled dress shirts hung from a railing. Further down, a blown up picture was tacked to the back of the cupboard. Pushing a pair of wrinkled pants to the side with a gloved hand Nick gasped when he saw the full picture. It was a picture of Stephanie; she must have been roughly sixteen when the picture was taken. She was on one of those fireman's poles that they have in playgrounds. Wearing jeans and a red tank top, her head was tilted back with laughter, her hair blowing in the wind, her feet inches from the ground. While it was certainly odd, it wasn't so much that singular picture that grabbed Nick's attention, but what was below it.

It was almost as if a shrine had been set up to Stephanie. Dozens of photos of her, illuminated by the light of candles were set up on the cupboard floor. In the centre was a lock of brown hair, held together by a red silk ribbon.

"Vega," Nick called cautiously, "you're gonna want to see this."

Nick heard Vega's footsteps as he made his way across the small apartment to the bed room, followed by, "holy shi-"

Though Vega was interrupted by the slamming coming from the front of the apartment. They ran from the bedroom to the main room of the tiny apartment, Good was nowhere to be found.


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: Hi everyone. As always, thanks for your reviews. There's some more Stephanie and Greg in this chapter (yay!). So, please review and let me know what you think!**

**Warning: SlightSPOILER for GRAVE DANGER. If you haven't seen it yet A: I suggest you run out, find a copy and watch it immediatly, it's excellent; and B: the content in this chapter probably won't ruin the episode for you, but don't say I didn't warn you. **

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Ch.26

Mark jumped over the balcony of his second floor apartment and made a reach for the fire escape. Nearly missing the rickety ladder Markexhaled heavily, terrified. The ladder, which must have been at least fifty years old let out a loud groan before half of it gave way, swinging out to the side and slamming Mark against the stucco side of the building. Mark gave a scream of pain as his hand became trapped between the stucco wall and the ladder. His mind preoccupied with pain Mark let go of the ladder with his good hand, leaving himself dangling by his trapped hand two stories above the ground.

Upon hearing the agonizing screams from outside Nick and Vega ran from the building. Looking out the door neither of the two men could see anything. When Nick heard another scream he leaned over the balcony to see where the cries were coming from. Nick peered over the balcony just in time to see Mark plummet to the ground as the ladder holding his hand hostage swung out again, relinquishing his hand and bestowing the rest of him to gravity.

Nick and Vega opted for the stairs as opposed to the hazardous fire escape, making their way to the fallen suspect. Vega pulled out his cell phone to call for an ambulance as Nick checked on Mark.

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Stephanie stood outside Mark's hospital room, leaning her back against the door, trying to build up the courage to enter. For so long there was nothing that went unsaid between the two of them, there were times when they hardly ever had to talk to know what the other was thinking. He knew her better than she knew herself. All through high school they would do things like changing their schedules to make sure they had all their classes together. Their parents were sure that one day, they would eventually get together.

How was it, Stephanie thought to herself as she slumped to the ground, that two people who spent half their lives joined at the hip, could one day be held apart by as little as a single door? Stephanie pulled her knees into her chest as she smoothed down the pleats in her beige, cotton a-line skirt, running her fingers along the delicate patterns made by light brown ribbons. She laid her head down on her knees, letting her fingers play absentmindedly with the leather straps of her espadrilles. She hardly even noticed Nick coming to sit down beside her.

"How you holding up?" Nick asked.

Stephanie looked up to see Nick's warm and comforting smile, and finally, the tough exterior that she had kept up since learning of Mark's involvement dissolved. Upon seeing Stephanie's obvious state of distress Nick offered, "you want to go for a walk?"

Stephanie nodded as Nick helped her to her feet. She felt so broken by all of this, as if her world had been shattered.

Nick led Stephanie to the hospital's courtyard, where the bright August sun was beating down on the paved walkway, leading the pair through series of stunted palm trees and assorted greenery typical of the Vegas area. Stephanie had always found solace in hospital gardens. They were like little escapes from reality, built with the intent to melt away the harsh actuality of life and replace it with tropical plants and butterflies.

Stephanie turned to Nick, "how did you do it?" She asked, "how did you go back? How do you keep going like it never happened?" Pausing before she continued, "how do you go back to normal when every fiber of your being is telling you that it's wrong?"

Nick contemplated how to approach this, sighing, he motioned to a bench for them to sit down. "After what happened I couldn't go to crime scenes on my own for a long time. I would freeze up collecting evidence, and it wasn't until I realized that it was affecting my job. I was lucky, because the people working to find me, could do their jobs, and if I can't do mine, than someone else may not be as lucky." Nick paused, "it's never going to be the same. If it didn't affect you, well, you wouldn't be human. Just because we see this stuff all the time, it doesn't mean that it's not going to affect us."

Stephanie tried with all her might to keep herself together, but the emotions which she had kept boiling away under the surface finally bubbled over. Her vision began to cloud with tears as Nick wrapped a comforting arm around her, "it'll be okay." He comforted her softly, before motioning to a spot just ahead of them in the garden.

Stephanie looked up to see Greg, in dark wash jeans and an un-tucked, white and blue pinstriped button down, standing just ahead of them on the pathway. Greg cleared his throat, "mind if I cut in?"

Nick obliged, turning the softly crying Stephanie over to her husband's open arms. Greg stroked Stephanie's hair as she buried her head in his shoulder. Stephanie, suddenly realizing the lack of Isabella's presence, lifted her head up. "Where's Bella?" She asked, panicked.

Greg smiled, "its okay, she's with Warrick at the lab."

"At the lab?" Stephanie cocked her head at him, "with Warrick?" She raised a perfectly groomed eyebrow.

"Yes," Greg said, glaring at Nick who was chuckling in the corner. "Don't look at me like that, Cath's there too."

"Okay," Stephanie laughed, her head returning to its spot on his shoulder.


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: Thanks again for all ur reviews! Luv u all to pieces! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, just been crazy busy. As always, please review!

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Ch.27

Mia sat at her desk, turning suddenly when the printer began to beep, meaning that her latest DNA profiles were done. She took the results and ran them through CODIS, praying for at least a partial match.

Five minutes later the screen to Mia's left let out a small beep, implying that it had come up with a match. Mia scrolled down the screen to see who CODIS had found to match the DNA found at the basement of Jones' coin shop. Surprisingly enough, the program pulled up matches to two previous crimes. Jones' first case, the murder of Keith Mercer, and one unsolved case from almost three years ago, the poisoning of Greg Sanders.

Mia leaned over and turned off the CD player on the opposite counter, giving the computer her full attention. Double checking the matches Mia confirmed that it was in fact Dan Jones' DNA found at all three cases. Despite the confusion that the connection between Greg's attempted poisoning and the Mercer/Jones case had never been drawn she paged Grissom.

Luckily, Grissom's office was just across the hallway and he was in the DNA lab within seconds. Mia immediately began to explain the matches, "I ran the DNA samples taken from the coin shop basement, CODIS came up with two hits, one full and one partial."

Mia paused as Grissom raised his eyebrows, "partial?"

Mia nodded before continuing, "the full hit was Dan Jones' DNA, no surprise there, though I'm not sure if I can age the sample."

"Right," Grissom said, "since Jones used to own the property his lawyers could claim that the DNA was there from when he worked there."

"The chances of DNA remaining there for that long are slim, but I don't know if it's enough to testify to." Mia paused for Grissom to contemplate this. "The partial hit was a match to Greg's poisoning case."

Grissom looked bewildered, for a moment, only to be replaced by his normal business veneer. "But since that went unsolved the only thing we can prove is that the two cases are related. Do you still have Mark Good's DNA on file?"

Mia nodded, "of course," then, reading Grissom's thoughts, "I'll run it through CODIS and against Jones, see if I can come up with any matches." Just as Grissom turned to leave Mia asked, "Grissom, why weren't any of the samples requested to be run through CODIS on Greg's case?"

"You have to understand Mia, he was only a level one at that point, investigating a petty theft case; there was no call for it. He did have any 'enemies.' We just assumed that the poisoning was due to exposure while in the field. There was no evidence linking the two." Grissom said with a sigh, before exiting the DNA lab.


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N: Hi everyone, here's the latest chapter. Thanks again for the reviews. This chapter is kinda of an outtake from Goodmorning Sunshine, it mostly helps to tie together any loose ends, let me know if it works because I've got one planned for later should all go well. So please review and let me know wut u think!

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Ch.28

**(Two Years Ago)**

Mark made his way through the prison security easily, despite his nerves. He knew that his 'type' was not built for prison, and the very notion of it made him jumpy. He had been picked on all through high school; he'd been the gangly nerd with no particular area of skill. Never mind his lack of luck with girls, there were some that were willing to be "just friends" but as soon as he even hinted at more they backed off, gone forever. And that select, small group, dwindled down to even smaller numbers.

Tripping as he did so, Mark pulled out a chair in front of the plexiglas screen. He picked up the plastic telephone, wincing at the thought of how many germs were manifesting on the mouth piece alone. Across the grungy screen sat a portly man who looked to be roughly in his fifties. The scruff of a beard on his chin gave way to the fact that he probably hadn't shaved in a few days. His face was pale with shades of blotchy red crowding his cheeks and forehead. His unkempt grey hair was receding and oily.

"Hello?" Mark said rather loudly into the receiver, which he held a good six inches from his face.

"You don't need to yell," the figure on the other end said in a mocking tone, dripping with a familiar sense of sarcasm. After a few awkward moments he spoke again, this time slightly softer. "Bet you want to know what you're here for, eh?"

Mark nodded, dumbfounded by the strangers actions. "Your dad, my friend Rob, god rest his soul," the man, his tone suddenly softening, bowed his head respectively. "He owed me some money a few years back. So, now that he's gone he left me in his will to pay off his debt. But, now don't look so sad, he left you something." The way that he pronounced something entailed that this something was not much of anything in reality.

"Yer dad had a bit of a coin collection you see, now, some of it's been sold to pay for my legal 'spnses and the like, but what's left is all yours. Now, the collection is in my shop basement, but the property's been taken by them damn bureaucrats." Seeing the look of confusion on Mark's face he reiterated. "Few years back I got into some bad business, then some damn city rat got me in here for murder. After that my wife left me, only damn thing she left me was my shop, which I couldn't afford to pay taxes on so the government took it from me and their auctioning it off this week."

Mark looked at him blankly, "what does this have to do with me?"

The man sighed deeply, recognizing that he was not dealing with the sharpest tool in the box. "Listen son, that collection is worth more money than you or I could ever dream of. Your pops made me promise to keep it for yah, thing is you can't get into that basement since it's all boarded up."

"I still don't see what this has to do with me." Mark stated point blank.

"Okay," the man said, griping the phone tightly, trying hard to keep his patience. "If you want the coin collection, your father's dying wish was for you to have it, the only way is to buy the shop. Now, I can guarantee you that that collection is worth more than double the property, it's really just like investing. You buy it, and as soon as I get out I'll buy it back from you. That way, I get my shop, and you get your dad's coins. What do yah say?"

Mark seemed to ponder this, scratching his head. His agent had said that he should invest seeing as the market for young, gangly actors was fairly small. Even then, how well did he really know this guy? Dan something? He knew his father hadn't kept the best of company, and the fact that 'Dan Something' was in an orange prison jumpsuit didn't do much to disprove the fact. Mark looked Dan Something up and down, considering the hard facts. "Okay, I'll do it."

"Thank you, you have no idea what this means to me. I can get my life back after here. Thank you."

Mark, taken aback by the stranger's acts of gratitude, said the only thing that came to his mind. "What's your name by the way?"

"Dan," he said, "Dan Jones."


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in a while, plus this ones kinda on the short side. Things have been getting insane at school (both work load and social circles) so I've been a little preoccupied with staying afloat there. Promise to update soon, excpecially if the reviews keep coming: )

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Ch.29

(Present Time)

Nick entered the hospital room where Mark Good laid, his leg still hanging precariously from the suspension system. Mark looked up from the magazine that lay in his lap, "who are you?" He asked accusingly.

"Mr. Good," Nick began, "my name is Nick Stokes, we met earlier today at your apartment."

Mark raised a heavily bandaged hand, "yah, I remember."

"Mr. Good," Nick continued, trying hard to keep his cool with someone who they were fairly sure had played a role in the events of the past month. Instead of taking the intimidating approach, which according to Warrick, Brass had taken earlier and it had gotten him nowhere. "From what I understand you and Stephanie were good friends through high school, right?"

Mark nodded, sensing Nick's friendly tone he said, "please, call me Mark."

"Mark, I was with Stephanie shortly after Isabella was kidnapped-"

"Isabella?" Mark questioned, his expression softening. "That's what she named her?" Nick nodded. "That's a pretty name, I always knew she'd name her kids something real traditional, old fashioned like. Somethin' real classy."

Nick nodded, "she's a smart girl," he said with a sad smile. "I saw Stephanie when the scent dogs came up with nothing, when she got the call following the ransom note, when they came up with false leads, and when Greg had to leave with the ransom money. I saw how much it hurt her. She's a strong girl; it takes a lot to shake her. I'm sure I only know her a fraction as well as you do, so you must know what I'm talking about. But when her Bella was kidnapped, she was crushed. More so than I've ever seen her."

"Stop!" Mark yelled. "I don't want to hear any more!" Mark seemed deeply upset by this; Nick knew his plan was working. "I love her okay!"

"If you loved her Mark, then why is it that I think you had something to do with this?" Nick looked Mark straight in the eyes.

Mark covered his face with his hands before whispering, "because he doesn't deserve her."

"He?" Nick asked, although he was fairly sure he knew the answer.

"Sanders," he snarled, "he wouldn't even have that job if it wasn't for my father!" Mark raised his voice with a growing confidence.

"Your father?" Nick asked, this time truly not knowing the answer.


	30. Chapter 30

**A/N: Here's a longer one to make up for lack of updates (and short ones when I do). This one is set two years ago, the last part is a deeper look at Greg's poisoning in Goodmorning Sunshine. So don't panic, I promise he won't die. Enjoy and please review!

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Ch.30

Dan smiled to himself as he watched his son leave the visitation area. It wasn't long before one of the guards came up behind him and handcuffed him before leading him back to his cell. What Mark Good didn't know was who he really was. When Mark's mother, Noreen Good, was nineteen she took a family trip to Vegas. It was there that she met Dan Jones. He would never forget Noreen, nor the night they spent together nearly thirty years ago. Up until last month the last he'd heard was that Noreen had returned home, immediately married her high school sweet heart, and eight months later she had a beautiful baby boy.

Dan was no detective, but it didn't take a genius to figure this one out. Unfortunately, Dan lost all contact with Noreen until this year when her husband, Rob, died. She wasn't looking to remain a widow, but returned empty handed when she learned that Dan was otherwise occupied. There was still one thing that Noreen wanted, she knew that she wouldn't be around forever, apparently their son wasn't exactly up for the next Nobel prize, and she was hoping that he could ensure that he would be taken care of. That was when Dan devised the plan.

Dan, while incarcerated, would pretend to be an old friend of Rob's. Noreen couldn't face telling Mark that Dan was his father. Dan would give some of the old fake coins that the city had failed to take into evidence to Mark, claiming that they once belonged to his father. In order to get the coins, Dan would convince Mark to buy the shop, thus leaving it available to him as soon as he got out of prison. This way, Dan would get his shop back and Mark could sell the collection and be set for life.

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Dan looked down the row of visitor's booths to see Mark bounding happily down the dimly lit halls like a young puppy. A huge smile plastered on his face. Mark picked up the phone without the hesitation he had upheld during his last visit. "Thank you!" He said excitedly. "That collection was worth more than…more than…it was just…wow!"

Dan smiled to himself. "Glad to see everything went smoothly."

"It went better than smooth, I'm rich!" Mark beamed, and continued to go on about his big plans for the upcoming years (as unrealistic as they were, Dan had to admire his ability to dreams), how he would spend his fortune and so on.

Watching his son, so overjoyed, Dan couldn't take it any longer. "I'm your real father!" He blurted out.

Mark stopped mid sentence. "My real what?" He asked.

"Your father," Dan said simply, and went on to explain what had happened that one summer between him and his mother.

For all his misgivings about his son, Dan had to give Mark credit. He was certainly taking the recent news in stride. "There's just one thing I need to know," Mark ventured. Dan nodded for Mark to continue, "why are you really in here?"

Dan closed his eyes, bringing himself back to that day so many years ago. He remembered everything about that day so clearly. He remembered the way the sun shone through the clouds as the door to his shop cracked open allowing a nervous looking young man to step through. He made his way up to the counter, looking over his shoulder multiple times as he did so. He remembered the way that the man's attitude had changed so drastically when he was joined by the older, more studious looking man. He remembered the look on the young man's face as he was handcuffed and taken away, all of it for a stupid Lincoln penny. But what he remembered more than anything was the way, just moments before he was handcuffed and taken away for good, that he'd grinned and quipped, 'I think you're busted.'

"You want to know why I'm really here?" He asked finally. "The reason that I'm not out on the streets, why my wife left me, why my shop was taken away from me?" He paused before continuing, "Sanders."

"Sanders?" Mark asked.

"Sanders, was the name of the punk who put me in here. Sanders, who wasn't supposed to be outside of his damn hole in the wall of a lab. Sanders, who got an entire career while my freedom, my shop, my wife, and my life were taken away from me!"

Mark furrowed his thick brows, deep in concentration. Or at least, as deep as could be expected from someone such as him. Mark simply bid his farewells and left.

* * *

Mark crouched behind a dumpster, watching a tall, man, probably about his age, taping off the alleyway using bright yellow crime scene tape. Once he'd finished taping off the scene he retreated to the black Denali parked at the edge of the alleyway. Mark quickly darted out from behind the dumpster, grabbing the back of his head as something pulled at his hair. Cursing under his breath, he checked over his shoulder to see what had assaulted him. Seeing nothing but the brick wall and dumpster Mark continued on to execute his plan. Quickly, he pulled out a small vial of clear liquid from his jacket pocket, unscrewed the lid and poured its contents into the travel mug of coffee that the man had left behind.

Mark looked up to see the man climb into the back of his Denali, as if searching for something. The man began to pull out as Mark leapt back behind the dumpster. As Mark crouched behind the dumpster he caught a closer look as the man, he breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the stitching on the breast of the man's vest. It read, _SANDERS,_ in white stitching over heavy black fabric. When Sanders finished what he was doing Mark climbed, rather hastily, into his rental car and tailed the SUV to a city building where he stopped briefly.

A cloud of thick, grey smoke poured out of the car's exhaust pipe as Mark debated on how long he should stay before giving up. He desperately wanted to see who this Sanders really was, as well as how well the poison would take effect. He wasn't too sure as to what it was that he had added to Sanders' coffee, but the guy he'd bought it from the night before had said it was sure to be deadly. While he was pondering the authenticity of his most recent street corner poison purchase, Sanders exited through the main doors of building and quickly hopped into his SUV, clutching his stomach as he did so.

Mark snapped out of his thoughts and put his car into gear, following the SUV out of the parking lot.

The SUV pulled into an apartment complex about half an hour later. Sanders got out of the car and climbed up two flights of stairs, grasping the rail tightly as he climbed, even stumbling over a few steps. Mark began to wonder if he had gone too far, he wanted revenge for his father, but did he really want it this badly? Hours later, Mark remained in the car, it was beginning to get dark and all lights in the apartment had long since gone out. Starting the car, Mark fiddled with the radio, trying to settle on a station before heading back to his hotel room.

Just as he was about to pull out, a slender brunette, slowly making her way up the apartment building steps caught his eye. There was something vaguely familiar about the girl; the way her dark, straight hair hung down just grazing her shoulder blades, the way she climbed the steps with incredible grace, and the way that as she yawned she delicately brought a single hand to her face. Suddenly, it all fell into place; he knew where this mysterious brunette was from.

It was Stephanie. After all these years, it was Stephanie. Then, she did something that he never would have expected. She put her key in the same lock, belonging to the same door as Sanders. Once she'd disappeared behind the door, a part of Mark knew or wished that this would be the last of Stephanie he would see in a long time. How could she do this to him? How could she be living with the same man that had put his father behind bars?

Mark sat in the car, only to be ripped from the thoughts of his reeling mind by the sounds of sirens in the distance. Petrified that he might be found out, Mark hightailed it out of the complex's parking lot and off into the night. Staying just long enough to catch a glimpse Stephanie running out of the apartment alongside a stretcher where Sanders lay unconscious.


	31. Chapter 31

**A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update, I guess I let time and homework run away with me (I hate new course loads). Anyways, please review and let me know what you think. **

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Ch. 31

Greg woke with a start at the sound of Isabella crying. Quickly he looked over at Stephanie, who was fast asleep to his right. It was the first night since Bella's kidnapping that both Stephanie and Bella had slept all the way through the night. He leaned over and brushed the hair from her face, kissing her cheek before going to check on Bella. It had been a month since her kidnapping and they were both still having trouble sleeping through the night without making intermittent checks on Bella. Softly, he pulled back the covers to retrieve Bella from her crib.

Padding lightly across the hardwood floors Greg made his way to the nursery. Bella looked up from her crib, her eyes wet with tears, but when she saw Greg her cries ceased. "There, there, sweat heart." He said softly as he lifted her up from the crib and propping her up on his shoulder. "Shh," he whispered, rocking too and fro around the room, rubbing her back as she began to settle down. "See," he said in a hushed tone, "I can do this, I can take care of you."

Greg brought Isabella quietly to their bedroom and upon seeing the warm bed where Stephanie lay, resting peacefully, slid underneath the covers with Bella sleeping softly on his chest.

* * *

Stephanie sighed as she laid her head back against Greg's shoulder, pulling the warm covers up around her. She turned her head ever so slightly to kiss his cheek, wrapping her arms around him. She knew that she could lie here like this forever. The sun shone in through the panes of the French glass doors which led out to the balcony overlooking the backyard. Isabella lay on Greg's chest, soaking up the early morning sun. It was a sunny Saturday morning in August, Stephanie was still on maternity leave and Greg was on his summer vacation. So for the time being, they were on normal people time, sleeping at night and waking during the day. Isabella was thriving under all the attention that Greg was showering on her during his time off.

Greg snored softly in his sleep, as Isabella, now three months old, grabbed his nose and giggled with delight as he sputtered awake. Stephanie stifled a laugh as she watched this display of father-daughter relationships at its finest. Greg, now fully awake, scooped up Isabella up, sitting her up between him and Stephanie. Isabella, not exactly pleased to have been displaced, pulled herself back up to Greg's chest and resumed playing with his nose.

"Oh you're going to have a wicked sense of humor." Stephanie said with a smile, as she brought Isabella her chest. All the while trying to find a way back to Greg's nose. Greg gave in and took Isabella in his arms; she gleefully reciprocated the gesture by grabbing his nose and giggling wildly.

It was all Greg could to not to laugh. "You gotta admit," he laughed, "she's got spunk."

At that moment Hershey and Bob came careening into the room. Bob made a dive for the bed, causing Isabella to shriek and attempt to hide by burying her face in Greg's shoulder. She still wasn't to sure what to make of her feline companion. All the commotion had only managed to wind Hershey up more. The chocolate lab did laps around the bed, finally settling with sticking his cold wet nose under the covers to lick Stephanie's toes. She let a small shriek escape as Hershey's freezing, damp nose hit the tip of her toes.

Things were finally going right, Stephanie thought, as she lay back into the blankets, snuggling up to Greg's side as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Isabella, more than slightly displeased to have to share the attention let out a small cry. Greg scooped her up, turning her to face him, "don't worry," he settled her back down, "I didn't forget about you silly." He said with a laugh.

Stephanie was about to take leave from the warm sea of blankets to go get the coffee started when the phone next to the bed rang. She stretched out her arm to lift the phone off the receiver, "Good morning, Sanders residence." She said with the happy lilt that she felt every time she referred to herself as 'Sanders.'

"Steph, its Grissom," came a stiff voice on the other end of the line. "We need you and Greg down here."

"What's going on?" Stephanie asked wearily. She knew it would have to be important. If he was short handed he would have just called in some of the day shift members.

"It's about your case. I'm afraid that's all I can say right now."

"Okay, we'll be there as soon as we can." Stephanie said as she hung up the phone. Turning to Greg she said, "Grissom needs us at the lab, something to do with Bella's case."

A look of concern immediately clouded Greg's once joyous front. "I thought they had Jones' in the bag for this, motive, means, opportunity and the evidence to back him up?"

"That's what I thought." Stephanie said, trying to conceal the thoughts of Mark that continued to darken her mind.

* * *

Stephanie and Greg stepped into the break room to find the rest of the team already congregated there. Nick, who'd taken to Isabella immensely well in the last few weeks, immediately scooped her up out of her carrier and twirled her around the room. "How's the princess today?" He asked, more to Isabella than to Stephanie and Greg.

"Careful," Greg cautioned, "she's recently developed a taste for noses."

"You don't say?" Nick scoffed, as Isabella tightened her grip on his own nose.

Grissom entered the room, an even more grim expression dawned his usually tight face. "Now, before I begin I need to remind you that no ones going to like this, but we've never been allowed to choose the cards we're dealt. I want you all treating this like any other case, no emotions in here, understand?"

Everyone nodded in unison, eager to learn what the new development was. Grissom, knowing that there was no easy way around this, came out and shared the new information directly, no further introductions needed. "We may have underestimated Mark Good's role in the kidnapping, and another case."

"May have? Another case?" Catherine asked, voicing the concerns that floated about the rest of the room.

Grissom laid a few folders out on the table, "three years ago, Greg's poisoning. We ran Mark Good's DNA against samples that were found at the scene, they were a match but we still don't have enough to prove that he was the one responsible. Sara, Nick, that'll be your case." Grissom handed them a folder. "Any information you find, report to me immediately, it can't wait."

Nick and Sara nodded quickly before leaving the room to get started.

* * *

After debriefing the team on the latest developments Grissom hurried out of the room with Stephanie and Greg tightly on his heels. Grissom turned to the two, "I know this is hard for you two, but you have to stay hands off."

"I know Grissom," Stephanie began to protest, "but I can't just wait at home while you're investigating the kidnapping of my daughter."

"Stephanie," Grissom slowed his pace, "when this case goes to trail, if either of your names are anywhere near the evidence all our work is as good as gone. None of it can be credited past that point. What's best for this case, for Isabella, is if you three go home and get some rest. Understood?"

Eventually Stephanie and Greg gave in. They knew that there was no arguing with Grissom. It just wasn't worth the effort.


	32. Chapter 32

**A/N: Hi everyone, tons of thanks for your reviews! This chapter is back in normal time (like the last one) and ties up some loose ends, though I've got some more twists up my sleeves for later on. So please review and I'll try to update quickly.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own People magazine itself, (as it is mentioned in this chapter) though I do own several dozen copies.

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Ch.32

Stephanie opened the door to the hospital room to reveal Mark lying in the bed, reading a celebrity gossip magazine, his leg in a heavy plaster cast, was suspended above the bed. Closer up, she could see that one wrist was handcuffed to the bedrail. Odd, she thought, due to the fact that with the full leg cast, he didn't seem to pose much of a flight risk. Two weeks ago both Mark and Dan Jones had been charged with Isabella's kidnapping.

"For so long, all I ever wanted was to make these pages," he said without looking up. "Never thought I'd get there because of something like this."

Stephanie stood in the doorway, unable to will herself to move. She already knew what he was talking about. When she'd opened the pages to this week's People magazine she suffered quite a shock to see a picture of her, Jules and Mark at one of his earlier Broadway premieres. Underneath the picture had been a write up about Mark's role in _"the kidnapping of his best friend's daughter." _

After several awkward moments of silence Mark spoke again, sensing what it was that Stephanie wanted to ask. "I told myself I didn't think about you, that I was over you, you didn't matter to me anymore. I told everyone else that our moment in the sun had passed, it was just…over. But I knew it would never be over. It was you and me, nothing can erase that history. I told myself that you missed me, that all I had to do was wait and you would come back to me, but then I saw you with him. What else was I supposed to do? To do, for us?"

Stephanie surveyed the wreck that Mark had sub come to. While it may not come as a surprise to others, it did to her; she felt no pity for him. After standing in the doorway for what felt like ages Stephanie finally spoke up, "shame," she said, "looks like you'll never dance again."

And with that, she left the room.

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**A/N II: In case Stephanie's comment didn't make any sense, Mark is a Broadway actor (ie singing and dancing) so literally breaking a leg would be quite damaging to his career. So, please review and let me know what you think!**


	33. Chapter 33

**A/N: Wow, sorry it took me so long to update, regardless here's the latest chapter. (The twists are coming soon!)

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Ch. 33

Jules, who'd been in Vegas to do some work on one of the shows,came and sat down beside Stephanie on the porch swing. Her shoulders were hunched forward, her arms hugging herself tightly. Jules laid a soothing hand on Stephanie's leg, slowly, Stephanie turned to Jules. She wasn't crying, but her face was streaked with mascara, she'd obviously spent the better part of the evening after putting Bella to bed, crying.

"Every night," she began,"I put her to bed knowing that someone took her from that same bed. When I put her to bed, despite the fact that there's just a wall between us, I feel like I couldn't be further from her. She's not going to remember this, but I will. Greg will. And one day, we're going to have to tell her. We're going to have to tell her that we couldn't be there for her. That we couldn't protect her, in her own house."

Jules had seen Stephanie upset, she'd seen her angry, she'd seen her scared, but she'd never seen her like this. Regardless of the fact that it had been months since Bella's kidnapping, and even though to everyone on the outside world Stephanie appeared to be fine, Jules knew that she wasn't.

When Stephanie was growing up, the one thing that Jules had learned very early on was that Stephanie had been trained at a very early age not to show emotion. It wasn't that her parents had instilled this upon her, but more that it became a survival instinct. Stephanie had been through a lot growing up, and learned that showing emotion never helped to solve a situation. For Stephanie, when something happened, she would take a step back, remove herself from the situation, then, when she was ready, would come back and deal with it appropriately. For many, this would accompany an inability to sympathize, somehow for Stephanie, it made her better at it. There was something about that fact that she was experiencing the situation just as much as anyone else.

Ever since Stephanie had gotten together with Greg she'd let herself go. Not physically, but emotionally. She'd shown emotion, freely and without restraint for the first time in her life. She knew it was good for Stephanie but it scared her at the same time.

"Do you remember the last fashion show you ever did for me?" Jules asked, seemingly out of nowhere.

"How could I ever forget that disaster?" Stephanie asked, laughing through her tears.

"You ruined half of that poor designer's entire spring collection in one step."

"And wound up half naked in front of hundreds of people," Stephanie prompted.

"Yes, and what did you do?"

"Went home and hid for three weeks straight," Stephanie retorted sharpley, obviously not catching the point of the story.

"Before that," Jules sighed, remembering the warm spring day that Stephanie had headed out onto the runway so full of hope. Back in high school she was tall and thin with striking features. The factors that had made her an outcast at school made her a must have for fashion designers. Jules, who'd had her foot in the door of the fashion industry ever since she was born, had gotten Stephanie a spot in a show for a premiering designer. She'd been ecstatic, nervous and overjoyed at the same time. Miraculously, Stephanie had been capable of channeling this energy and made it through the show until the very last run. She was set to be wearing a floor length, lace trimmed evening gown complete with a long train and four inch heels.

Stephanie set out on the runway, full of attitude and energy. Unfortunately, the delicate lace and stiletto heels did not mix well. With one slip of a heel, the hastily sewn together silk and lace unraveled before the audiences' eyes, leaving Stephanie stranded on the runway.

"Well, first you screamed and froze, but then, you elegantly stepped over the heap of fabric and paraded back up the runway," Jules paused, trying desperately to hold back her laughter, "in nothing but your underwear!"

"Who knew there were so many photographers at a single fashion show?" Stephanie laughed, blushing.

"You never told me you were a model!" Greg exclaimed, astounded from the deck door, breaking their reminiscent bubble.

Jules laughed as the stunned look from that day returned to Stephanie's face. "There are a lot of things you don't know about me Mr. Sanders. And what's more, someone told me you had a thing for models, and I'd never want that swaying your decision to marry me." Stephanie said saucily, regaining her confidence.

Greg looked about as bowled over as he had the day in the break room when he'd caught Stephanie dancing.

Jules, seeing the look on Greg's face, excused herself. "Well, I really must be getting to bed. It must be hours past my bed time." She joked, kissing Stephanie on the cheek before heading to the guest room.

Once Jules had disappeared behind the door Greg snaked an arm around Stephanie's waist. "So tell me more about these 'crazy modeling days'."

Stephanie answered with a kiss, pushing her hips flush against his, causing him to let out a small groan of pleasure.

Greg kissed Stephanie's neck passionately, she moaned with delight as he did so while they slowly moved up the stairs towards the bedroom.


	34. Chapter 34

**A/N: OMG, sorry for taking so long to update, once again, life got crazy and took over. Anyways, this chapter is where the scheming begins, so keep an eye out for an entertaining new character (based on my friend, you know who you are). I don't own any of the songs mentioned in this chapter and what not. So please review and let me know what you think!

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Ch.34

Stephanie ran a brush through her hair as a last minute attempt to hold her loose curls in a semi-logical style. Tonight she was going out with the team to celebrate the close of the Jones/Good case. Catherine's mother was looking after Isabella so that everyone could go out. Stepping back from the mirror Stephanie surveyed herself. Her black tube top accentuated her curves in all the right places and hid what needed to be hidden perfectly. She slipped her feet into a pair of open toed black stilettos before heading downstairs where Greg was waiting with Nick, Warrick and Tina.

Nick whistled when Stephanie came into view, it was her first real 'night out' since Isabella's kidnapping, and contrary to her previous feelings Stephanie was anxious to get out, and was taking full advantage of an excuse to glam up. Greg jabbed Nick in the ribs as a response to his whistle. "Just because you can't get a date doesn't mean that you can whistle like a wild dog at my wife!" Greg accused jokingly.

Nick laughed, "man, every time I remember that you have a wife, I swear I gotta pinch myself."

When they had arrived at the club they quickly met up with Catherine, Grissom and Sara. Rihanna's SOS began to play as Stephanie's ear perked up, "I love this song!" She squealed, grabbing Greg's hand and dragging him onto the dance floor. Greg shrugged, tossing a look over his shoulder to Nick who was seated at the bar as if to say, 'what can you do?' with a suggestive grin. The music was rising along with the urge to dance and soon everyone, even Grissom followed suit and made their way onto the dance floor.

Despite the fact that a seemingly harmless pair of stilettos had turned evil, Stephanie continued to dance until she just couldn't take it anymore. She left the dance floor and took a seat at the bar next to Nick, who had stepped out of the dancing mob a few songs back.

"Cosmo please," she ordered smoothly, sitting down next to Nick and slipping off her shoes. "So tell me Nick, why is it that this is the billionth time that we've been out and you still haven't brought a girl?" Nick blushed and laughed, eager to avoid the question. "Seriously, you work with a bunch of detectives and investigators, sooner or later we're gonna meet her."

"What makes you think there's anyone?" Nick asked, sipping his drink.

"Come on Nick," Stephanie said, "I may be married but I still remember what it's like to be single. A guy like you has got to have tons of girls crowding all over you."

"I'm just, I don't know, pretty busy with work, you know?" Nick said, stumbling over his words.

"There's something else there. Nick, I studied psychology, I'll figure it out." She said with a teasing laugh, "I'm thinking she broke your heart and now no one else quite compares to her?" She suggested, noticing the glimmer in Nick's eye as she tossed out ideas.

As Nick opened his mouth to respond Greg stumbled over off the dance floor, "it's our song babe, you gotta come dance!" He said, grabbing her arm and pulling her off the bar stool.

"Okay, you've got my attention." She said, as Greg twirled her into him while the opening beats of 'Truly Madly Deeply' began to echo through the club. Stephanie looked around to see people beginning to couple up, she scanned the bar for Nick. Eventually she saw him dancing with a cute red head, she smiled to herself, it was good to see Nick with someone.


	35. Chapter 35

**A/N: Sorry it's taken me a while longer than usual to update, I'm staying up later than usual to do this otherwise this probably wouldn't have been posted till tomorrow night. I still haven't decided how the whole Nick thing is going to pan out, but I can guarentee that something will happen within the next few chapters (that man is just too damn good looking to be single!). Anyways as a side note to "suffering from mild insanity": tonight was absolutly fantastic, missed you so much though! And to everyone else: thank you for all your reviews and I can guarentee that there will be lots of mushy fluffyness to follow thanks to people who look like Eric Szmanda who keep popping up in real life. I know that probably made no sense to most of you, but that's okay. Please review and let me know what you think so far!**

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Ch.35

"Surprise!" A chorus of voices shouted, startling Greg as he stepped over the threshold to the break room. Inside, he could see Stephanie standing with one-year old Isabella on her hip, one thumb planted firmly in her mouth.

"Happy Birthday Greggo!" Came a second chorus, this time with slightly less enthusiasm. Greg, still recovering from the shock, stumbled into the room, planting a delicate hiss on Isabella's forehead, and a slightly more passionate kiss on Stephanie's lips. The break room crowd 'ooed' and 'awed'.

Isabella replied aptly with, "aie earthay addy!"

Isabella's wisps of brown curls were held up in a single pink barrette, perfectly matching the pink paisley sundress she wore. "You really shouldn't have," Greg whispered in Stephanie's ear.

"Oh come on," Stephanie jested, "not even just a little party?"

"No," Greg said, mocking a harsh tone, "miraculously, you're yet to see what they do with birthday's here."

Stephanie smiled deviously, "trust me," she whispered in his ear, "it's nothing compared to what's waiting at home."

Greg moaned softly, not wanting to draw too much attention to himself. "Alright, where's the cake?" He asked assumingly.

"What makes you think there's cake?" Warrick asked back, testing how far he could tease the former lab rat.

"Ha, ha, very funny. Cough it up," Greg said, jokingly.

"Not so fast," Stephanie said, "presents first."

"Can't complain there," Greg joked, picking up Isabella, who was tottering across the room as made his way towards a table covered in brightly wrapped packages. Isabella wriggled free and grabbed the first available package and hurrying back to Greg.

"Essies! Essies! Essies, waddy essies!" Isabella cried as Greg scooped her up, taking the present from her grasp.

"Let's see what we have here," he said as he pulled a bottle of champagne from the bag. "Ooo, and who might this be from?" He asked, checking the gift bag's tag. "Thank you Catherine!" He said as Catherine pulled out some champagne flutes. Greg popped the cork and began pouring glasses and handing them out.

The members of the night shift gladly took glasses, all except for Stephanie. Greg looked at her questioningly when she waved her hand at the glass he offered her. Sara and Catherine stopped to stare. Eventually the other occupants of the room noticed as a deafening silence filled the room.

"What?" Stephanie asked. "Am I not allowed to skip a drink every now and then?" She raised her eyebrows.

"Of course," Catherine said, "but champagne at your husband's birthday party?" She asked with a suggestive smile.

The conversation went on like this for a while before Greg finally caught on, his mouth gaping open. "Are you…?"

Stephanie simply nodded as cheers filled the room. Isabella, slightly unnerved by the sudden outburst ran to Greg and latched onto his leg. Greg swung her up and balanced her on his hip, a grand smile plastered across his face. "Really?"

"Yes," she finally spoke; this was only to be followed by more cheers.


	36. Chapter 36

**A/N: Okay, Spring Break is here and my exam results have FINALLY been posted (yay! A's all around!) so I can finally relax and start up writing again (just in time to be dragged away from my computer and off to Seattle). I'll post tonight and take tons of writing supplies with me on vaca. So until I get back you'll have to make do with this until I get back. And Courtney you'd better post your story before I get back (I've added that to my list of demands before I tell you about last week, which was exactly a week ago today, not that I'm counting). Wow, long note, anywho, please review and let me know what you think. I promise I'll post more when I get back.** 3

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Ch. 36

Stephanie blinked the sleep from her eyes, rolling over to find the bed empty, aside from Isabella standing ather side, pulling her arm. "Mommy," Isabella cried, "Daddy gone!" The look on Isabella's face would make you think that this was the end of the world.

"Its okay baby," Stephanie said, pulling back the covers and lifting Isabella into the bed with her, a tiny part of her missing the endless mornings that she and Greg used to share in bed. Despite that, she wouldn't trade anything for the life she had now. Stephanie sighed, not only was she pregnant, meaning that she was already beginning to feel like a blimp, even more sonow thanduring her pregnancy with Isabella, but she also had a horrible cold. She couldn't breathe through her nose, and Grissom had sent her home, meanwhile the lab was swamped. It was the third day this week that Greg had been called in for an extra shift.

"Mommy, look!" Bella said, squirming around to point to Stephanie's dresser. On the dresser sat a delicate vase, containing a beautiful bouquet of roses. Stephanie hopped out of bed to see what the story behind the roses was. Beside the roses sat a small card, in Greg's scrawl, it read:

_Goodmorning sunshine! _

_Sorry sweetheart, Gris called me in, but I'll still make it to the doctors. _

_Love,_

_Greg_

"Your father," Stephanie sighed as she laid down the card and led Isabella down to the kitchen, where she planned to make pancakes, the most recent addition to a long list of cravings.

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Stephanie and Greg waited eagerly for the doctor to arriveand perform the ultrasound. Isabella ran haphazardly about the room, dragging her stuffed red dog behind her.

Finally the doctor arrived and moments later they were looking at their baby.

"There's one concern that I have, we'll have to run a few tests to be positive, but based on visuals I can tell you I'm fairly sure it's positive." The doctor said, his face unmoving emotionally.

Greg and Stephanie leaned forward with anticipation. Stephanie was speechless; the possibility of something going wrong with their baby was unimaginable.

"What is it doctor?" Greg asked, his voice wavering with uncertainty.

"It appears that you're having twins," the doctor stated nonchalantly, as if this was an everyday occurrence. "Would you like to know the sexes?" He asked.

Greg and Stephanie exchanged looks. They both felt that learning the sex of the baby before it was born was tempting fate, but after what had happened with Bella, what more could fate throw their way? They nodded in unison to the doctor.

"It appears that Baby A is male, as is Baby B," the doctor pointed out both their sons on the ultrasound machine's screen.

"Oh my god!" Greg said excitedly. "We're going to have sons!" He looked as if he could positively burst, and Stephanie couldn't be happier.


	37. Chapter 37

**A/N: I'm baaaack! Though it may have been unfairly brief, my much needed vacation was fantastic,especially thanks togiant shoe sales and tons of shopping therapy. Regardless, I'msoon to be sent back to school, so I'll try my hardestto writeas much as I can with the last fleeting moments of my break. So, please enjoy and leave tons of nice reviews!

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Ch.37

"Bye Bella," Greg said softly, stroking Isabella's curly hair and planting a gentle kiss on her forehead, before ducking his head out of the car and kissing Stephanie one last time before heading back into the lab.

Strokingher six month pregnant belly, Stephanie finished buckling Bella into her car seat. She was more than beginning to show and just the thought of having a second (and third) baby with Greg was enough to keep her smiling.

She put the car into gear and pulled out of her parking space at the lab. She and Isabella had dropped by the lab to have breakfast with Greg and the rest of the team at the diner. Both Stephanie and Greg were more than happy to be back at work. With the Jones/Good case finally closed and out of mind, Grissom had allowed both of them to come back to work. It had only been a matter of months back at work before Stephanie left for maternity leave. Not wanting a repeat of Isabella's delivery, both Stephanie and Greg had decided that she would take an earlier leave than last time.

The SUV pulled out of the parking space, Stephanie checked over both shoulders before heading out of the parking lot. But what she failed to notice was the mysterious looking object in the middle of the parking lot. It appeared to be just a pile of clothes, a stray sweatshirt perhaps. Stephanie rolled down her window and waved to Greg who was standing just outside the doors of the lab. The car pulled forward, the first tire narrowly missing the pile. However as Stephanie turned the steering wheel to pull out of the lot the back tire grazed the pile. Stephanie pushed down on the break when she felt the car run over something, checking in the rearview mirror to see what it was.

Greg turned to head back into the lab as Stephanie and Isabella pulled out of the parking lot. Suddenly he was thrown forward towards the lab doors as a blinding heat consumed his back. Images from the lab explosion flooded his mind before everything went black.


	38. Chapter 38

**A/N: Sorry to leave you with the cliff hanger there, I'm back on regular schedule's now so there should be lots of updates soon. Please review and let me know what you think!

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Ch.38

Sirens rippled through the air as Grissom flipped through his messages after returning from breakfast. He picked up his pace to a run as he raced down the hallway from his office to the main doors, desperately trying to reach the source of the alarm. Nothing could have prepared him for what he was about to see.

The parking lot was a scene of carnage. Debris flew through the air. There were cars on fire, increasing in intensity as they led towards the exit of the parking lot were half a black SUV sat. A tire rolled across a parking lot, leading Grissom's eyes to a motionless figure lying on the side walk. Grissom ran to the figure, turning him over gently to see his face. "Greg!" He exclaimed, as Greg slowly opened his eyes. "Medic!" Grissom called, "I need a medic!"

"Steph…Bella…they were in the car," Greg murmured.

"Shh," Grissom whispered, "they already left, they're fine."

"No…" Greg said hoarsely, "that's our car." He raised a hand, motioning to the wrecked SUV, which appeared to be at the epicenter of the explosion.

"Stay here!" Grissom ordered as he left Greg, running towards the SUV. The half of the SUV the seemed to withstand the least damage was on its side. The passenger's side door had been blown open by the impact of the explosion and was extended to the sky. Grissom climbed through the door to see Stephanie lying unconscious in the driver's seat. Further back Grissom could see Isabella, still strapped into her car seat, crying madly, her arms and legs flailing. Well, Grissom thought to himself, as he climbed towards Isabella, if she's crying it means she's conscious. "There, there, Bella. Uncle Gil's here."

Isabella's cries stopped momentarily at the sound of Grissom's voice, she cocked her head to the side, her eyes locked with Grissom's. Within seconds she resumed her screams. As Grissom undid her car seat straps Isabella's tiny body began to give way to gravity falling to Grissom's chest. She clung to his shirt; he laid a strong hand on her back, attempting in vain to calm her. When he stuck his head out of the ruined SUV Grissom could see Nick and Warrick running towards the car. A medic had helped Greg to his feet and was currently checking him out, though he was making his best attempt escape and run to the SUV.

It wasn't until now that Grissom realized what the burning smell in the air was. As he looked down to the ground he could see gas slowly dripping out of the car's tank, but more alarming was the fire that was quickly spreading through the parking lot. He tried to hand Isabella off to Nick and Warrick but every time he attempted to leave her and retrieve the unconscious Stephanie, Isabella's screams only intensified as she clung to him stronger.

Finally Nick pushed Grissom aside and leapt into the vehicle. Grissom ran from the SUV to Greg. Upon seeing Greg, Isabella released Grissom's shirt from her grasp and stumbled towards Greg, who finally escaped the medic's watchful eye.

Grissom ran through the situation with the medic and the pair began to evacuate the vicinity. While Grissom ran into the lab to alert the staff inside and the medic checked Isabella, both men failed to see Greg running through the parking lot towards the SUV.


	39. Chapter 39

**A/N: Happy now Courtney? Yah, that's pretty much all I have to say, oh, and thanks for the reviews! **

**A/N II: Okay, so I've got more to say than I'd originally thought. Just a note that most, if not all of my medical knowledge comes from watching Grey's Anatomy and ER, so if there's any inacuracies (of which I'm sure there are many) than consider this to be my apology.

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Ch. 39

Jules sipped coffee from the styrofoam cup in her hands. It was too bitter and tasted like stale cigarette smoke and cheap beer. It was nothing compared to the coffee that she had stolen from Greg's stash on her last visit shortly after Bella was born. Thoughts of Bella brought her mind back to the situation at hand.

It had been three hours since Jules had arrived at the hospital, after a-near death experience-like taxi ride from the airport. Never again, she thought, would she complain about taxi drivers in New York. Stephanie had been in surgery for the past two hours after they'd been able to stabilize her, and Greg was being treated for minor burns and smoke inhalation.

From what the doctors had been able to tell her Stephanie's car had run over a pipe bomb in the lab's parking lot. Grissom had gotten Bella safely out of the car, and when Greg went in to get Stephanie the car caught fire and he passed out. Miraculously, Bella was fine, she'd inhaled some smoke but there was no serious damage.

Stephanie and Greg had made Jules Bella's guardian, so as soon as Jules got the call that there had been an accident she'd hopped the first flight to Vegas. What had unsettled her the most, was that no one would allow her to see Bella, despite the fact that she was Bella's guardian.

Jules looked up to see a woman running through the hospital doors, her wavy dark brown hair fell to her shoulders, and her tanned complexion seemed paler than what she assumed to be it's normal state. She couldn't quite place it, but the girl resembled someone eerily well.

"My name is Chloe Marks," the girl said with a southern accent, "my cousin was brought in, she was in an accident. Her name is Stephanie Sanders."

Jules jumped up from her seat, nearly upsetting the cup of coffee-like-substance. "Chloe?" She asked tentatively, "it's me, Jules."

Chloe turned quickly; her face seemed to relax a fraction when she saw Jules. "Jules? Thank god, is she alright? What happened?"

"There was an accident," Jules began, though she didn't know fully herself what had happened. "Bella's alright, and it looks like Greg's going to pull through-"

Chloe, obviously eager to learn about Stephanie's condition cut her off. "What about Stephanie?"

Jules looked down at her feet, swirling the sludge around in her cup, "to be honest, I don't know. They won't tell me much since I'm not family. All I know is that Steph and Bella were in the car when they ran over some sort of bomb. They think Steph's going to make it, but they don't know about the babies."

"Omigawd," Chloe's hand flew to her mouth. She could hardly believe what was happening. Despite the fact that she and Stephanie had grown up living in different countries they'd still spent most of their summers together, riding horses, swimming at the lake and gossiping about boys. Chloe and Stephanie were like best friends, sisters, and cousins all in one.

Just then a doctor came through the doors leading to the waiting room. "Are you Chloe Marks?" He asked.

"Yes," she answered hastily, "what's happened to Stephanie?"

"She's going to pull through, although we're concerned that the babies may not make it to full term. She's going to have to stay here to see to it that she makes term, you can see her now if you'd like."

"Yes, of course," Chloe said, making her way towards the doors from where the doctor had come, Jules stood up to follow her.

"She can't come," the doctor said, "family only."

"Oh," Chloe said, "she's coming," she subconsciously thickened her flirtatious accent, batting her eyelashes at the doctor.

"Well," the doctor pondered, "just this once."

Jules and Chloe snuck quietly through the door to see Stephanie, propped up against the pillows, balancing a book on her now huge stomach. Aside from a black eye and a bandaged wrist, she didn't look that bad.

"Chloe, Jules?" Stephanie said as she looked up. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, my dear," Chloe said elegantly, stroking Stephanie's hair, "you just keep getting into trouble."

Stephanie laughed, "listen, after everything that's happened lately, this is nothing. No one has died, I can tell you exactly where everyone is and all that I have to do is stay in bed for the next few weeks till I'm in the clear and everything will be alright. Have you guys heard from Greg yet?"

Chloe and Jules stared at Stephanie with disbelief. Neither could believe how undeniably calm she was being about this. Most people would be just slightly rattled after their car ran over a bomb and they, their daughter and husband were almost killed, but apparently, not Stephanie. "It's okay," Stephanie reassured them, "I can feel the babies kicking and I saw Bella half an hour ago, she's with Greg and Grissom right now. Grissom's just interviewing Greg to see if he saw anything, you know, standard procedure and all."

Just then a soft knock came at the door, the three women turned to see Grissom, pushing Greg in a wheel chair with one hand and holding Bella's tiny hand with his spare hand. "Mommy!" Bella cried, breaking free of Grissom's hand and running towards the bed. Chloe helped Bella onto the bed where she nestled in next to Stephanie, resting her head on her chest.

"Hey babe," Greg said, his voice rusty, "how're you feeling?"

Stephanie smiled as she saw Greg's face, "I've been better," she said softly.

After several minutes of introductions and updates on everyone's current conditions another knock came at the door; two more heads poked their way through doorframe. "Mind if we come in?" Nick asked.

Warrick and Nick stepped through the door before Chloe, who'd been uncharacteristically quiet for the last few minutes, exclaimed, "Nicky?"

Nick's head turned abruptly at the sound of another southern accent, the quizzical look on his face quickly evaporated. "Chloe?"

"Wait a minute," Stephanie said, apparently the only one who was able to make sense of the new addition to the situation. "Do not tell me," she looked at Chloe, who simply nodded. "You mean to tell me that Nick is 'last-night-we-went-skinny-dipping-then-he-held-my-hand-Nicky?"

Warrick burst out laughing, looking at Nick, whose face had turned bright red. "You know Stephanie?" Nick asked Chloe.

"You work with Nicky? My Nicky?" Chloe asked.

All eyes were on Stephanie as the pieces in her mind began to fall into place. One summer that Chloe had spent at Stephanie's she had talked about nothing but 'the infamous Nicky,' as Stephanie had referred to him as. Nicky was Chloe's high school sweet heart who had broken her heart when he left town after high school. Stephanie had never thought that the Nick who she worked with now could have possibly been the Nicky that Chloe spent the better part of forever obsessing over. After all, how many Nick's were there in all of Texas? "I guess so," Stephanie said inconclusively.


	40. Chapter 40

**A/N: Wow, sorry it took me so long to update. Those of you who know me know that boys took over big time (but that's a whole other story). Gosh, the big 4-0! Here it is, leave lots of reviews!

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Ch. 40

Nick stepped outside the hospital doors, his mind reeling. Never in a million years would he have thought that Chloe would come back into his life. The summer after tenth grade his family had gone camping at the lake which was roughly three hours outside of town. With his brother and sisters all away at school it was just him and his parents. He hadn't been at all pleased at the idea of spending two months away from his friends. But all that changed on his second day at the lake.

Everyone had gathered around a giant bonfire right down on the waterfront. His parents had practically had to drag him there, he would have much rather been holed up in their cabin reading a book. The majority of the kids his age were gathered at one side of the bonfire, discussing their plans of a kegger once the parents had all gone to bed. Nick could tell that their group wasn't looking for any new members, and he wasn't about the wedge his way into somewhere that he wasn't welcome.

Just as Nick was beginning to think that he really was unwelcome here and may as well head back to the cabin and begin his summer of isolation when someone caught his eye. He looked up to see a slender redhead, sitting on her own, a single can of coke in her hand. Her long legs were tanned, and she was wearing denim cutoffs and a white tee. She smiled when she caught his eye.

From that moment onwards, Nick and Chloe spend every waking moment of their summer together, either meeting at the lake, each other's cabins, or what they'd dubbed to be 'their' spot in the woods. Through the school year they wrote letter back and forth. They met again the next summer at the lake. Nick couldn't have imagined anything that could ruin what they had, until one summer that Chloe hadn't made it to the lake. The summer after that Nick was busy studying sciences through summer courses and didn't have time for his annual retreat to the lake. Slowly but surely he and Chloe drifted apart. That was, before today.

Like a bullet to the brain, Chloe reentered his life just as quickly, and as radically as she had the first time. While many years had passed since he and Chloe had last parted, Nick had failed to feel the same way about another woman.

"So what ever happened to doing something different? Not following the 'Stokes Family Career Plan'?" A soft, familiar, southern voice broke his train of thought. Nick turned to see Chloe standing in the doorway.

Nick laughed, "hey now, be fair." He began, "I'm not a cop; I'm a CSI, a scientist."

"Sure," Chloe said, "but the Nicky Stokes I remember vowed never to go into law enforcement."

"Well," Nick sighed, "things change," after a moment he continued, "and it's not Nicky anymore, it's Nick."

"Nick," she mocked, "manly."

"What about you?" Nick asked, "did you actually become a teacher?"

"Not so much," she sighed, "forensic anthropologist, studied under Teri Miller. I think I may have taken a page from your book." Chloe laughed to herself. "So tell me," she began, "what ever happened to Nicky?"

Nick sighed, remembering summers at the lake with Chloe, missing how simple things were back then. Nicky had always been a bit of a misfit in his family, everyone in his family had gone into law enforcement, but not Nicky, he wanted to go into science. It broke his mother's heart the day he got his acceptance letter from Rice University. "He grew up."


	41. Chapter 41

**A/N: Sorry it's a bit of a short one this time, but I've got a really cute chapter coming up soon, plus more Nick and Chloe (it's just unnatural for someone that cute to still be single!) So, please review and let me know how you think it's going.

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Ch.41

"So what's the story with Chloe and Nick?" Greg asked Stephanie, as he bit into a jalapeño and tomato sandwich that he had smuggled into the hospital for him and Stephanie.

"What's to tell?" Stephanie mused, leaning over to wipe a smear of tomato from Greg's cheek. "They met one summer at the lake, she fell head over heels in love with him, and from what I heard he felt the same way. But after awhile they just lost touch, apparently he left for university without telling her. According to my aunt, the summer that he just never showed up at the lake Chloe didn't leave the cabin the entire summer. If you ask me, I doubt they'll pick it up so easily. I think something else happened there, I mean, Chloe wasn't really the type to spend an entire summer holed up in her cabin over nothing."

"Juicy," Greg stifled a laugh at the thought of Nick, young and in love.

* * *

Nick woke to a light perfumey smell filling his nostrils; he turned his head to the side to see Chloe lying next to him, sleeping peacefully. It really was amazing how fast they had been able to pick things up right where they left off. He twirled a strand of light brown hair around his fingers as Chloe's eyes fluttered awake. 

"What ever happened to the red hair?" Nick thought out loud.

"It grew up," Chloe mumbled sleepily.

Nick laughed, "okay, I guess I deserved that." Back at the lake Chloe's hair had been a brilliant shade of dark red; it was what had first caught Nick's eye; ever since then, Nick had always held a special spot in his heart for red heads. "What ever happened to us Chloe?"

Chloe sighed, proping her head up on her hand, "Nicky, you left, you never came back to camp like you said you would. You didn't call, you didn't write, you just dropped off the face of the earth as far as I knew."

Nick looked down, too ashamed to meet Chloe's gaze. He hadn't known that he had put her through this, had he known, he never would have done it, but he couldn't help feeling as if it was all his fault.


	42. Chapter 42

**A/N: Hi everyone! I'm baaack! Sorry that I've been neglecting WTS for a while but I've been battling some major writors block and all my teachers suddenly decided to assign major assignments, all due on the same day naturally. So please review and let me know if I've succesfully overcome my writers block, or at least to nag me into posting the next chapter. **

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Ch.42

"Paging Doctor Grearson, Doctor Grearson to maternity."

Greg's head perked up upon hearing Doctor Grearson's name. Dr. Grearson was currently Stephanie's primary physician while she was in the hospital. Immediately, Greg abandoned the cup of coffee he was attempting to purchase, it wasn't really that good anyways, and sprinted up the three flights of stairs from the cafeteria to the maternity ward. Shit, he thought to himself, she was only a week outside of what the doctors had dubbed her 'safe zone.' If she went into labor tonight the risk of losing one or both of the twins was significantly higher.

Panting, Greg collapsed against the nurse's station desk; apparently, he wasn't in the shape that he thought he was. Then again, it was two in the morning, and he'd just sprinted up three flights of stairs, heck, he hadn't even had his coffee yet; he'd give himself enough credit for that.

The nurse sitting behind the desk took one look at Greg and sighed, "Mr. Sanders," she rest her chin on her hand, "I understand that you're worried about your wife, but you have to understand that if she goes into labor we will page you. Dr. Grearson is the only ICU doctor in this hospital specializing in maternity, and there are over a dozen pregnant women on this floor alone. If something happens, we will page you, understand?"

"Yes ma'am." Greg bowed his head, slightly embarrassed. Since he was on the floor Greg decided to forgo to cup of coffee like substance waiting in the cafeteria and spend the rest of the night with Stephanie. Isabella was staying the night with Catherine and Lindsay so that Greg could stay at the hospital with Stephanie. She'd already had an early labor scare that morning, and Greg didn't want to miss anything. Just as Greg turned down the hall to Stephanie's room he caught a glimpse of Sara getting off the elevator. "Hey," he said softly, his voice harsh with exhaustion.

"How you holding up?" She asked, for once looking less worn out than he did.

"Hmmf," Greg mumbled.

"That good, eh?" Sara laughed. She remembered what a wreck Greg had been during the final days of Stephanie's pregnancy with Isabella. "Don't worry, she'll be fine. She's only a week away from her safe zone, and all the doctors think she'll make it as close to term as possible, considering everything."

Greg smiled; it was good to see him finally relax. After the accident at the lab everyone had been tense, but no one more so than Greg. "Thanks Sar," he said softly.

"Don't mention it Greggo," Sara smiled, "now go get some sleep, sit with Steph for a while-"

But before Sara could continue a second page broke through their friendly chitchat. "Paging Doctor Grearson. Doctor Grearson to maternity." Greg cocked his head to the side, waiting for the ominous paging of the husband. "Paging Mr. Sanders. Mr. Sanders to maternity," this was followed by a loud sigh,"Mr. Sanders, it's actually **your** wife now."

Sara stifled a laugh at the nurse's comedic page, but she barely had enough time to see Greg take off down the hallway, never mind taunt Greg. Sara turned on the heel of her boot and followed Greg down the hallway.

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Greg, now wearing a pair of blue scrubs, not wanting to be scolded by the nurse again, re-entered the room where Stephanie was waiting for her c-section. She'd originally wanted to have a second natural birth, but the doctors said it was too risky. Greg lifted his hand awkwardly to pull open the heavy doors, he hated wearing scrubs, they always reminded him of being in the autopsy room at the morgue. Hopefully, today's events would produce better results.

"Greg!" Stephanie shouted angrily from inside the room, a pained expression on her face. He looked up from the door as she sat bolt upright. "Gregory Hojem Sanders! Get your ass in here before I have these twins without you!"

Apparently, the drugs hadn't kicked in yet.

Greg scurried in the door and hurried to Stephanie's side, immediately her expression softened, "hey honey." She said softly.

Greg cast a quizzical look at the nurse who was setting up the IV, the nurse grinned at Greg and mouthed, "don't worry, its normal."

Hours later the same nurse wheeled Stephanie's bed back into her room, Greg trailing close behind. Stephanie, still woozy from the anesthetics, gave up the fight to stay awake and let her head fall against the pillow. The nurse hung up her chart and quietly left the room. Silently, Greg sat in the chair beside the bed, gently stroking Stephanie's hair as she slept softly.


	43. Chapter 43

**A/N: Sorry, it's taken me so long, but for some reason my computer hasn't let me update everytime I've tried for the past week. (You happy now Courtney? jk) So, please review and let me know how it's going. **

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Ch. 43

"No Nick, _you_don't understand!" Chloe said firmly, "You don't know what it was like…I…I…I loved you and you left!"

Nick searched for the words to make Chloe forgive him, but nothing came to him. For once, he couldn't charm his way out of the situation, Chloe was mad, real mad. "Chloe, I'm sorry, I was seventeen-"

"Yes Nick, I remember, and so was I. Listen, when you left it was like…like… a soap opera or…or…like, a Kelly Clarkson song! Okay? I put myself out there on the line for you like that and I turn around I you just left me hanging there!"

By this point Nick could see that Chloe was on the verge of tears, he knew that he had to tell her the truth, and fast. There wasn't any getting around it. He knew that not knowing the truth was killing Chloe, though she might just kill him if she knew what had really happened that summer that he hadn't come to the lake.

"Okay Chloe, maybe we should sit down, this might be hard to hear." Nick said calmly, knowing that he had no other choice.

"Nick, I don't think that there's any worse reason that you can tell me than the millions of reasons that I've had running through my head for the past eighteen years," she said, folding her arms in front of her.

"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you, Clo."

"Nick, just say it, it's only been eighteen years, and I would think twice about using that nickname again." Chloe said angrily.

"Okay, it's just, well, you see," he paused, searching for the words. He looked so desperate and helpless, unlike the Nick Chloe had previously known, she wanted to reach out past her anger and wrap her arms around him, promising that she could make it all go away. Nick took a deep breath and said, "Chloe, the reason that I didn't come to the lake that summer was because I saw you last summer, with Charlie and I knew that he was who you were supposed to be with," Nick continued, not wanted to pause and allow Chloe to say something before he could finish. "I decided not to go to the lake so that you would forget about me and be with Charlie instead." A long silence followed as Nick became more nervous with every second that passed. Finally Nick spoke up, "you have to understand Chloe, he made you so much happier than I did."

Chloe threw her arms around Nick burying her face into his chest, unable to bear the distance between them any longer.

Finally, Chloe lifted her head, looking Nick in the eyes and said, "why didn't you tell me?"

Nick laughed, "What was I supposed to do Clo? Call you up one day out of the blue and say, 'by the way, I can't make it to the lake this summer cause I think that you'd be better off with this other guy than me'?"

"Nick," Chloe said softly, "Charlie and I were just friends, our families wanted us to be together, but he never made me laugh like you did, he never made me smile like you did, he never made me feel safe like you did, but more importantly I never loved Charlie, I loved you."

Nick pulled away from Chloe, "you said loved." He said bluntly.

Chloe tilted her head to the side a moment, contemplating where she was going.

"Do you not love me anymore?"

Wordlessly, Chloe kissed Nick with a kiss so passionate that it seemed to last a lifetime. Nick took that to mean that at the very least she still liked him.

The kiss seemed as if it never would have ended had it not been for the ominous ringing of the phone, immediately, they both knew what it was.

* * *

The easy silence that had settled in the air of Brass's car was suddenly broken by a sound rarely heard by human ears, or any ears at all for that matter, Grissom's laughter. It began as a soft chuckle and ominously grew into a full blown fit of laughter. Brass pulled the car onto the shoulder of the highway, worried by Grissom's outburst that they may have to admit Grissom to the hospital on the way to visiting the latest additions to the Sanders family.

"Gil?" Brass questioned confusedly, "you alright?"

Grissom responded with another burst of laughter, Brass turned off the engine. After several minutes of gasping for air, Grissom finally calmed himself enough to make out, "it's just, do you realize where we're going Jim?"

"The hospital?" Brass said slowly, wondering where this is going.

"That's right, the hospital. We are going to the hospital to visit Greg…his wife…and their second and third children!" Grissom burst into another fit of laughter, only to be intermittently interrupted by, "Greg!", "wife!" and "kids!".

Brass breathed a sigh of relief, at least there was a slightly logical cause for this outburst. Come to think of it, the thought of Sanders being the one to have kids before Warrick or Nick, well, it was just bizarre. Sanders had been the lab's resident 'teenager' and soon developed into the CSI's baby, and before anyone knew it, their baby had a baby, three in fact.

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"So what? Are you going to keep us out here all day, or are you going to invite us in?" Nick and Chloe poked their heads in through the door.

Stephanie lifted her head and gently ran a hand through her hair, pushing it out of her eyes. Chloe could see that her eyes were puffy with a combination of tears and lack of sleep. "Oh my goodness," Chloe gasped, "look at him…and him." She ran into the room, pulling Nick in behind her.

After a several minutes of cooing over the new babies Chloe finally remembered what she thought to be one of the biggest parts of having a baby. "So," she said, cradling one of the tiny babies in her arms, Greg hovering over her, apparently not trusting Chloe with his new born son quite as much as Stephanie appeared to, "do these cuties have names? Or will they just be Baby A and Baby B for the rest of their lives?"

"Well," Stephanie began, her voice groggy with sleep, "this," she gestured to the baby in Chloe's arms, "is William Aleksander Sanders."

"Liam for short," Greg said, "and this," Greg said, gesturing to the baby whom he was cradling carefully in his arms, "is Nicholas James Sanders a.k.a. Nick."

Nick raised an eyebrow at Greg, who responded, "hey, you saved her from a burning car." And at the risk of sounding to mushy added, "and we kinda liked the name anyways.

The laughter which had filled the room was broken by screams of, "Mommy!"

Stephanie turned to see Bella running through the door way and across the room to the bed.

Before long news had spread and everyone had gathered in the small hospital room; had it not been for the fact that more than half the people in the room had badges, the nurse probably would have told them to leave.

Watching the babies being passed from person to person reminded Stephanie of a game of pass the parcel at birthday parties. Though what really amused her was the way that Greg trailed after the babies, wary of anyone holding them. Despite the fact that the majority of them dealt with delicate test procedures in which the slightest mistake could make a substantial difference, nevertheless there was no way Greg was going to trust them with William and Nicholas.


	44. Chapter 44

**A/N: **Finally! I'm on break right now after one hell of a semester. I've actually had time to catch up on some much needed personal stuff that's suffered due to some evil classes and homework loads (i.e. actually having time to do my eyebrows and file my nails) and have finally gotten around to finish this. Anyways, even though it's the end, I still want tons and tons of reviews (as per usual), because I love and read them all. Plus, keep an eye out for further one-shot type Greg and Steph updates as semester break is coming in a month, and I'm sure I'll find some time to get some of this stuff out of my head and onto the computer. Oh, one more thing and then you'll actually get story (not just ramblings) I started a new story, Pigs. It's weird, very weird, centered on Greg, and I can guarantee it will be updated randomly and sporatically over the next eternity or so, but give it a shot, I promise it'll be worth it.

Cheers! (and enjoy!)

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**Ch. 44**

"Daaaadddddy!" Isabella let out an exasperated cry from the front doorway, "we're gonna be late!…Mooooom! Dad's being slow again!"

"Alright, alright, I'm on it!" Stephanie shouted to both Isabella and Greg, as everyone rushed about the house, trying to get ready for the first day of school. Isabella was heading into the second grade, and Liam and Nicky were going into kindergarten. Stephanie pushed the thought that her babies were finally leaving home from her mind as she went about packing lunches. She couldn't believe how 'Susie-home-maker' she'd become, as she pulled out a black felt tip pen and wrote 'Bella,' 'Liam,' 'Nicky,' 'Greg,' and 'Steph' on five brown paper bags.

Greg stood in front of the mirror upstairs, trying desperately to tie his tie. Just then, Stephanie poked her head through the bedroom door, talking as she came in, "…lunches are made, backpacks packed, school supplies ready to go, shoes on and at the front door…Oh for goodness sakes Greg, let me do it." Tenderly, she wrapped her arms around his neck from behind and began tying his tie for him. "When will you ever learn Mr. Sanders?" She asked, finishing as he twirled her around to face him, pulling her in close.

"I have no idea Mrs. Sanders, no idea whatsoever." Greg whispered in her ear, only to be interrupted by the conjoined efforts of Isabella, Liam and Nicky shouting from the front hall downstairs.

"We're gonna be laaaate!" They hollered.

"Okay, we're coming!" Stephanie and Greg called from their bedroom. Stephanie kissed Greg softly on the cheek before heading over to the closet to grab a pair of black, patent leather high heels. Standing up, she brushed her hands down her beige, pencil skirt and tapped Greg on the shoulder as she passed him.

"You ready to go stud?" She asked playfully, leaning against the frame of the bedroom door.

"You betcha," Greg said, speeding past her. Pausing, as he got halfway down the stairs, "are you coming or what?" He called.

At the bottom of the stairs Greg and Stephanie found their three children all standing at the front door, which was propped open by Bella's foot, backpacks on, arms crossed and toes tapping. Stephanie grabbed lunches, tossing them into their open backpacks as Bella thrust a briefcase into Greg's hand. Telling him, in a voice eerily reminiscent of her mother's, "You're gonna be late for court if you don't get out that door!"

"That's right Greg," Stephanie added, attempting to forget the fact that she'd entirely forgotten his court date this morning, "who's your judge?"

This time, it was Liam who answered, "Myners." Liam told them, before Greg had a chance to respond.

"It'll be quick," Nicky chimed in, "he always plays golf at twelve, so they'll be out before eleven."

Bella giggled as Stephanie rolled her eyes, once again wondering how in the world their kids had gotten this deep into their parents work lives.

As Stephanie headed out the door hand in hand with Bella, Greg motioned to Liam and Nicky. Quickly, he pulled a jar of pomade out of his pocked and ran it through the boys' hair. "There, now you're ready for school."

Finally, they were out the door, and everyone was loaded into the Denali. Stephanie climbed into the front seat after assuring that everyone was buckled in safely as Greg locked up. "What have you done to your hair?!" Stephanie exclaimed, looking back at Liam and Nicky. Both of whom had their hair swept up to reach the sky, giant grins plastered across their faces. She could've sworn it hadn't looked like that before they'd left the house.

Bella, the informant, answered Stephanie's unspoken questions for her, "Daddy did it." She said plain and simple as at the old age of seven, she was much more than used to her father's antics.

Just then, Greg hopped into the car, unaware that he'd just been ratted out by his daughter. "Care to explain?" Stephanie said, turning to Greg, who instantly realized that he hadn't entered his family car, but the lions' den.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he replied, hands in the air.

"Well," Stephanie stage whispered, "I think it looks cute." Simultaneously running a hand through his carefully groomed 'court' hair and turning on the car CD player. With the push of a button ACDC's Hell's Bells came blasting through the car stereo.

"Noo," William whined, "not ACDC _again_, I want Manson!"

Stephanie's head whipped around to face Greg, "I thought I told you no Manson until the fourth grade," she said sternly.

Greg shrugged, "sorry, I guess I forgot."

Just then, Isabella called out from the back of the car, "But I wanted Stevie Nicks!"

At that point Nicky sang out, "sings a song...sounds like she's singing...Ooo baby... ooo... said ooo…"

Stephanie quickly realized that her argument was hopeless. "What, no Keith Urban or Kenny Chesney?" She mock complained.

All four other occupants of the car cried out in protest, "no country!"

"Fine, fine!" Stephanie replied, "I'll just have to start getting rides to work with Uncle Nick and Chloe." After Chloe had decided to stay in Vegas she was hired at the lab, much to everyone's delight. "That reminds me, their engagement party is tonight. So I'll pick you guys up from school on my way to the drycleaners, pick up my dress and your suit, the sitter will be here at four thirty and Greg, when do you think you'll be home by?" Stephanie turned her head from the 'To-Do' list in her hands to her husband beside her who was clearly not paying attention and rocking out to the music.

**

* * *

**

That night, after the party Stephanie and Greg lay in bed together, exasperated after a night filled with laughter and dancing. It was so nice to finally see Nick and Chloe together at last. It had taken them a few months to finally realize that the only way they could be was to be together, but as soon as they did things picked up right where they had left their teenage selves.

Stephanie let a tiny gasp escape her lips as her heart sped up as she felt Greg's hand graze along her hips, searching under the covers until he found her hand. Once he found hers she entertained her fingers with his, until she couldn't remember which fingers were hers and which were his. She gently pressed her back to his abdomen as he pulled her closer to him, breathing in the soft sent of her hair, allowing it to spark the last thoughts to dance through his head as he fell off to sleep. Both Stephanie and Greg simultaneously realizing that for once, everything was finally perfect, no kidnappings, serial killers or explosions. The most that they had to worry about was what they could possible get for Nick and Chloe as a wedding gift, but until then the only thing there was to do was to hold each other and revel in the silence they had to share together.


End file.
